GENEVA, May 22: World Health Organisation chief Lee Jong-wook of South Korea died on Monday two days after suffering a blood clot on the brain, the United Nations agency said. Mr Lee, 61, was spearheading the organisation’s fight against global threats from bird flu, AIDS and other infectious diseases. He was WHO’s director-general since 2003.
“I am sorry to tell you that Dr Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the WHO, died this morning,” Spanish Health Minister Elena Salgado told the opening meeting of the agency’s annual assembly. Her voice trembling, Ms Salgado described Mr Lee as an ‘exceptional person and an exceptional director-general’.
