President Park Geun-hye expressed her gratitude on Friday to a group of South Korean healthcare workers for treating patients in Ebola-hit Sierra Leone as she conferred medals to them.
  
Park shook hands with some of the 24 doctors and nurses, including those in the military, before awarding all of the participants medals, Park's office said.
  
"Once again, thank you for your courage and dedication," Park said in the ceremony at the presidential office.
  
Park praised their mission in the West African nation of Sierra Leone, saying it enhanced South Korea's international standing.
  
Park's move came about two months after South Korea completed its near three-month Ebola relief mission in Sierra Leone without reporting any cases of the contagion among its healthcare workers.
  
It was the first time the South Korean government has sent an emergency relief team to fight the outbreak of an epidemic overseas.
  
The death toll from the deadly virus exceeded 11,000 in mostly West Africa region, including Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, according to data posted on website of the World Health Organization. (Yonhap)