Swaraj calls on South Korean first lady, meets school students

South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and interacted with school students here on Monday, the first of her official engagements during her India visit.

Kim, who arrived here Sunday on a four-day visit, will also participate in Diwali festivities and the ground-breaking ceremony of a memorial for a Korean queen in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

"Affectionate bonding. EAM @SushmaSwaraj calls on the First Lady of the Republic of Korea, Mrs Kim Jung-sook. India and ROK (Republic of Korea) share a special strategic partnership since 2015 and our relations have deepened and diversified in recent years," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

After her meeting with Swaraj, the first lady visited the ASN Senior Secondary school in East Delhi where she interacted with students.

The school has a tie up with South Korea's Jeonnam (Chonnam) Foreign Language High School since 2015 and the institutes have an exchange programme for their students and teachers.

Addressing a group of students, Kim urged them to study hard and help in the growth of their nations.

The future generation will help in further cementing the Indo-Korean ties, she said.

With the political leadership in India and Korea working to strengthen ties, the students will get more opportunities to visit each others countries, she said.

The Korean first lady will visit Lucknow and from there, on Tuesday, she will leave for Ayodhya where she will attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the Queen Suriratna (Heo Hwang-ok) memorial.

"The First Lady's participation in the festivities in Ayodhya will showcase our close civilisational links as well as the ongoing deepening engagement between our two countries," the MEA had said last week.

According to Korean legends, Princess Suriratna from Ayodhya had travelled to Korea and married King Kim Suro and became Queen Heo Hwang-ok some 2000 years ago.

The South Korean First Lady will also attend the 'Deepotsav' event in the evening on Tuesday.

Kim will leave for Agra on Wednesday for a visit to thee Taj Mahal before heading home.