Lok Sabha Speaker to visits South Korea

New Delhi, Oct 2: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan along with Parliamentary delegation today visited Gimhae and Busan as part of her five-day official visit to South Korea.

President of the Garak Society Ki-jae Kim, Lawmaker from Minjoo Party Hong Cheol-min and Deputy Mayor of the Gimhae City Administration Seong-hye Youn jointly hosted a lunch in her honour at Gimhae, an official statement said.

Later in the day, Mahajan also paid homage at the tombs of King Kim Suro and Queen Huh Hwang-ok. According to "SamgukYusa" or "The Heritage History of the Three Kingdoms", written in the 13th century, Indian Princess Suriratna sailed from a distant kingdom of Ayodhya in India and married King Kim Suro, the King of Gaya in the year 48 AD and become known as Queen Huh Hwang-ok.

The descendants of the royal family account to about 5 million of Korean population out of its total 50 million thereby creating a strong historical bond between the two countries. Mahajan also visited the Indian Culture Centre at Busan (ICCBS) later in the day.

Established in 2013, on the 40th anniversary of India-Korea diplomatic relations, ICCBS is a unique model functioning on the basis of Public Private Partnership.

Executive Director of ICCBS and Consul General of India in Busan Jeong Deok-min received Mahajan at the Cultural centre. Mahajan interacted with Korean students and children learning yoga, dance and Hindi at the Centre.

Mahajan also commended Jeong for his outstanding contribution in promotion of bilateral relations between India and Korea and in particular for promoting Indian culture in Korea, it said.

The official visit concluded with a visit to the Hongbeopsa Temple at Busan on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi on October 2 where the only statue of Mahatma Gandhi in South Korea is located in the temple.

PTI