South Korean president visits Indian book pavilion

South Korean President Park Geun-hye Wednesday toured the Indian pavilion at an international book fair here in which India is participating as the guest of honour for the first time.

She toured the Indian pavilion at the Seoul International Book Fair, spending close to 10 minutes there, said an embassy press release.

It was followed by a brief interaction when Minister of State for Human Resource Development Jitin Prasada, who is heading the Indian delegation, conveyed greetings of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and thanked the South Korean president for gracing the Indian pavilion.

A custom fabricated 1000 sq. meter pavilion has been designed and established for the purpose where 26 Indian publishers have displayed a wide range of books.

The Indian pavilion features a huge replica of the famous Sanchi Stupa and other artifacts.

It has sections devoted to Indian nobel laureates, works of Tagore and Gandhi, centenary of Indian cinema, children's books, Indian literature and other titles.

India's participation is being led by the National Book Trust (NBT) which has especially translated 10 children's books in Korean.

India's participation at the fair assumes significance as 2013 is being celebrated as the 40th anniversary year of establishment of India-Korea diplomatic ties.

The Indian pavilion was later formally inaugurated by Prasada along with Ambassador Vishnu Prakash and NBT Chairman A Sethumadhavan.

The fair runs till June 23.