Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik will leave for Qatar on the 14th as a special envoy to offer condolences following the death of Qatar's former king. The Blue House announced through a press notice that day that it had sent a condolence note in the name of President Lee Jae-myung regarding the death of former Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. He then announced that Chief of Staff Kang would visit Qatar this evening as a special envoy to offer condolences and would return to Korea on the 16th. The Blue House announced that it had discussed dispatching a special envoy with Qatar this time, considering the past precedent of dispatching a member of the State Council or National Assembly as a special envoy to offer condolences when the king of a Gulf region country passed away. Afterwards, the Qatari side specifically requested Chief of Staff Kang as a special envoy to offer condolences, so it was added that Chief Kang visited Qatar in person. Director Kang visited four Middle Eastern countries, including Qatar, as a special envoy for strategic economic cooperation last April when concerns were growing about disruptions in supply and demand of Middle Eastern crude oil and naphtha. (Seoul = News 1)