India-Korea friendship goes way beyond K-Pop fanfare!

Not many know of India and Korea’s ancient amity. It was only when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told PV Sindhu’s former badminton coach Park Tae Sung (a retired South Korean professional badminton player) of the link between the two countries that this historical fact became popular.

Padmasena was the ruler of the kingdom of Kausala in North India, with Ayodhya as his capital. Princess Suriratna was his daughter from wife Indumati.  According to Samguk Yusa, in 48 BCE, the princess, then 16, travelled to Korea from the “ancient land of Ayuta” and married Kim Suro, founder-King of Geumgwan Gaya in south-eastern Korea.

Isn’t this amazing? Apeejay Schools have always believed in imparting to their students knowledge from diverse fileds, takin a cue from this Apeejay School, Panchsheel Park hosted a talk by Chanho Jeon, Second Secretary of the Korean Embassy. The talk was organised by the Korean Cultural Centre of India.

Attended by Ashu Khattar, the Academic Coordinator (Panchsheel Park), and 50 class IX students, the event aimed to promote India-South Korea cultural understanding. Jeon in his delightful talk covered both the nations’ diplomatic ties, emphasising cooperation in trade, defense, technology, education, and culture. He even shared experiences as a diplomat in India, praising its diversity and democracy and expressing hopes for stronger ties in the future.

This was followed by a Question and Session that explored various topics. While students remained mesemrised during the lecture by Jeon, during the Q&A session they displayed their curiosity and asked him several questions much to his delight.  

The event concluded with the students feeling enriched with knowledge about historical facts and also present relations between the two countries. Such events indeed do go a long way in fostering mutual respect and understanding between the two nations.