Relatives of renowned climber Park Young-Seok and two colleagues joined climbers and friends at the service at a university hospital in Seoul. [break]
Park, Shin Dong-Min and Kang Ki-Seok were attempting to scale Annapurna in the Himalayas when they lost contact with their base camp on October 18.
The Korean Alpine Federation (KAF) suspended a search last Saturday, citing concerns about the safety of rescuers, but said it will resume next year.
"When I was dying of hypoxia on Shishapangma (a Tibetan peak), Park came up with a donkey to rescue me," Kim Jae-Bong, a senior KAF official, recalled in a speech at the service.
"With the memory of the incident fresh in my mind, I flew on a helicopter to find him but there was no trace of him."
File photo of the Himalayan Mountains featuring the Mount Annapurna range in Nepal. (AFP)
Park, 47, who had already scaled Annapurna, returned this year to try a different route to the 8,091-metre (26,701 foot) summit.
In 2005 he became the first in the world to complete the Adventurers´ Grand Slam by conquering all the world´s 14 highest peaks as well as reaching the North and South Pole.
In his last video footage, Park said he always felt grateful about his life as a climber.
"Mountaineers should be on the mountains... I will continue expeditions until death comes," he said.
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