(4th LD) No S. Koreans on list of those confirmed killed in Las Vegas shooting rampage: official

(ATTN: UPDATES with foreign minister's comments in last para)

SEOUL/LAS VEGAS, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- No South Koreans are among those confirmed dead in the Las Vegas shooting rampage, officials said Wednesday, as the number of Korean tourists unable to be reached following the incident dropped.

Officials of the South Korean consulate general in Los Angeles have checked with officials of the Clark County Coroner's Office and the State Department and confirmed that no Koreans were on the list of those killed in Sunday's shooting, a foreign ministry official in Seoul said.

"We've checked with both the coroner's office and Las Vegas police. Though it's not official, we can say that no South Korean was killed" in the shooting, Lee Key-cheol, South Korea's consul general based in Los Angeles, told Yonhap News Agency.

Consulate officials are also trying to confirm the whereabouts of eight Koreans who were on trips to Las Vegas or other western destinations, the ministry official said. Relatives and others have reported that they haven't been able to contact them.

In the wake of the shooting, a total of 145 "lost-contact" reports have been filed with the LA consulate general and other Korean consular offices, and all but eight of the people have been located.

The Sunday night shooting has left at least 59 dead and more than 500 hurt. U.S. media have called the shooting rampage the worst in the nation's modern history.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha gave her condolences to the victims and called for diplomatic efforts to promptly locate the Korean nationals who have been out of contact, according to the ministry.

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