World Health Agency Chief Collapses

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Lee Jong-wook, the first Korean to become chief of a United Nations organization, unexpectedly collapsed and was transferred to a hospital on Saturday afternoon.

The WHO announced that Lee collapsed as he was preparing a yearly general meeting (from May 22 through 27). Doctors operated on his cerebral thrombus in a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland.

The WHO also said that Lee was recovering.

The WHO added that Lee would not be available for the general meeting, since he would be in bed for some time, and that they would make Lee’s condition public on a regular basis.

Yi-Young Cho lycho@donga.com