President Lee Jae Myung enters the National Fiscal Strategy Conference at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday. From left: Prime Minister Han Seong-suk, President Lee Jae Myung, Planning Minister Park Hong-keun and Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung enters the National Fiscal Strategy Conference at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday. From left: Prime Minister Han Seong-suk, President Lee Jae Myung, Planning Minister Park Hong-keun and Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung has sent a message of condolence on the death of former Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and will dispatch Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik to Qatar as a special condolence envoy, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.

A Cheong Wa Dae official said Kang was set to depart Tuesday for Qatar.

Following past precedent in which a Cabinet minister or National Assembly member was sent as a condolence envoy upon the death of a Gulf state ruler, the government initially discussed dispatching a Cabinet minister with the Qatari side. Qatar, however, specifically requested that Kang make the visit. "In response to Qatar's specific request for Chief of Staff Kang as the condolence envoy, he will visit Qatar and return on Thursday," the official said.

Sheikh Hamad ruled Qatar from 1995 to 2013 and is credited with transforming the country into an energy-rich nation.


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