“Thank Indian Prime Ministerfor inviting me to India. Happy to celebrate Diwali here, said the lady elegantly draped in a saree”.From the moment she arrived in Ayodhya on Tuesday till she departed, the locals, especially the youth, applauded her at the multiple events she attended, along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.Shelanded in a chopper near the Ram Kath Park venue around 2:30 pm, and was welcomed by people chanting 'Jai Shri Ram'. She began her Ayodhya tour by offering tributes at the Queen Heo Memorial.
Goguryeo
was a Korean kingdom, located in the northern and central parts of the Korean
Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Manchuria. Along with Baekje
and Silla, Goguryeo was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It was an active
participant in the power struggle for control of the Korean peninsula and was
also associated with the foreign affairs of neighbouring polities in China and
Japan. Goguryeo was one of the great powers in East Asia, until its defeat by a
Silla–Tang alliance after prolonged exhaustion and internal strife.
The
First Lady of the Republic of Korea, is the wife of the President of South
Korea. Francesca Maria Barbara Donner was the inaugural First Lady of South
Korea, from 1948 to 1960, as the second wife of Syngman Rhee, the first
President of the Republic of Korea.During the administration of President Park
Chung-hee, his daughter, Park Geun-hye, assumed the duties of First Lady. The first, and to date, only female president
Park Geun-hye was never married in office so there is still yet to be a First
Gentleman of Korea.
The
current First Lady is Kim Jung-sook, wife of President Moon Jae-in, in office
since 10 May 2017.Kim Jung-sook is a
South Korean classical singer,spouse of
Moon Jae-in, the 12th President of South Korea.She is in news in India presently touring and is the one referred in the
1st para of the this post.
South
Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), derived its name from Goguryeo which was one of the great
powers in East Asia. Archaeology indicates that the Korean Peninsula was
inhabited by early humans starting from the Lower Paleolithic period. It was annexed by the Empire of Japan in 1910.
At the end of World War II, Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S. zones of
occupations. A separate election was held in the U.S. zone in 1948 which led to
the creation of the Republic of Korea (ROK), while the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) was established in the Soviet zone.
South
Korea’s Supreme Court recently acquitted
a man who refused to serve in the military because of his religious beliefs, a
ruling expected to affect the fate of the more than 900 conscientious objectors
who are currently on trial for refusing mandatory service in the country’s
armed forces.For decades, South Korea has required all able-bodied men in South
Korea to serve in the armed forces and granted few exemptions under a
conscription system seen as crucial to the country’s defense against North
Korea. It has billed military service as a patriotic duty, and the punishment
of those who refused to serve has been both uniform and harsh. Each year, South
Korea has sent hundreds of young men, to prisoninvoking its Military Service Act, which calls for up to three years in
prison for those who refuse to serve without “justifiable” reasons.
Back home, the northern
Indian city of Ayodhya managed to break a Guinness World Record on 6.11.2018 by
lighting 300,150 earthen lamps and keeping them burning for at least 45 minutes
on the banks of the river Saryu as part of the annual celebration of Diwali,
the Hindu festival of lights.South Korean first
lady Kim Jung-sook attended the record-breaking event after meeting with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi during a four-day visit to India.
Shri
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, was given a
certificate certifying the record by Guinness officials who had monitored the
attempt with drone cameras. At the
venue, where a huge stage in traditional Indian architectural style was
erected, South Korean first lady arrived wearing an elegant green saree and
greeted the people on dais and in the crowd with folded hands, sending people
into raptures.In her address, she recalled the historic ties between India and
Korea and said she prayed for prosperity of both the countries, as they move
towards a future of peace and prosperity together.Mentioning Mahatma Gandhi and
Rabindranath Tagore, she said, "There is an Indian adage that sharing
happiness multiples it. I am very happy to celebrate Diwali with in Ayodhya
with all of you."
Her
presence was significant because of a Korean legend that a princess from
Ayodhya traveled to Korea and married a king, becoming a Korean queen in the
year 48 AD.Later in the evening, she was treated to a dazzling display of over
three lakh earthen lamps on the ghats of the Sarayu river. "Darkness
cannot defeat light and if we all light up lamps together, we can remove any
darkness," she said in Korean at the Ram Katha Park event. She also
performed a ceremonial 'aarti'.
As
dusk fell in Ayodhya, where God Lord Ram was born and where he returned after
14 years in exile, volunteers lit lamps, called diyas, snaking along the river,
through lanes and at houses ~ it was happiness for all .. ..Deepavali, festival of lights spreads
happiness all over.
Jai
Sri Ram ~ Happy Deepavali.
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
8th
Nov 2018.
