India’s First Indo-Korean Friendship Park ready in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: India’s first Indo-Korean Friendship Park in New Delhi is complete and the Indian authorities had opened its gates for the public before the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 25.

However, the formal inauguration of this newly built park awaits due to the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) across the world.

Situated in the Indian Army Cantonment Area hardly 6 km away from Indira Gandhi International Airport, the park owns strategic significance not only because it is a symbol of strong India-South Korea friendly relations, but the park is also the reminiscence of India’s support to South Korea during the Korean War 1950-53.

According to the officials of Embassy of the Republic of Korea in New Delhi, the inauguration of Indo-Korean Friendship Park was postponed to the end of May due to the adverse situation created by the spread of COVID-19.

“Initially, we planned to inaugurate the Park sometime in the month of April when we were expecting senior functionary of Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs or Ministry of National Defense to arrive in India for the formal inauguration. But now since the situation is not conducive because of the coronavirus outbreak, the inauguration is likely to happen by the end of May,” said an official connected with the development.

A score of events, seminars, and meetings in India and other countries including South Korea where coronavirus has struck have been canceled or postponed indefinitely.

India has not only imposed entry restrictions for foreigners from many countries, canceled visas, it also has banned public assembly and gatherings besides closing schools, colleges, gyms, cinema theatres, and swimming pools to keep a check on the spread of COVID-19 onslaught.

The Embassy of ROK in New Delhi, the Cantonment Board and Korean War Veterans Association have jointly developed the Indo-Korean Friendship Park, which also symbolizes a Korean War Memorial.

India is the only country out of 22 nations that had participated in the Korean War in support of South Korea that didn’t have the Korean War Memorial. All other ally nations like the USA, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Thailand, Italy, Denmark, and others have constructed Korean War Memorials, but it was not there in India.

A huge ethnic Korean-styled entry gate welcomes the visitors at the Indo-Korean Friendship Park.

The attractions at the Indo-Korean Friendship Park include a larger-than-life statue made of fiber material of Indian General KS Thimayya. This celebrated soldier had played an important role in ending the Korean war and making both the warring sides sign the Korean Armistice Agreement in July 1953.

The five pillars in the backdrop of General Thimayya’s statue are embossed with the detail of 60 Para Field Ambulance Brigade of the Indian Army that had participated in the Korean War. This troupe of para-medics was non-combat soldiers who had jumped into the warzone to help the wounded South Korean soldiers.

The handshake artifact bearing flags of India and South Korea is attracting people’s eyeballs here.

One of the pillars also carries narration about India’s Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore who had written a small poem linking Korea’s historical legacy to its future as the ‘illumination of the East’. In 1929 he had written:

“In the golden age of Asia

Korea was one of its lamp bearers

And that lamp is waiting to be lighted again

For the Illumination of East”

      –Rabindranath Tagore (1929)

Interestingly, Rabindranath Tagore had never visited South Korea in his lifetime. Later in 2011, a bronze bust was instituted in Seoul on the 155^th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

According to the majority of the Indian people visiting the Indo-Korean Friendship Park, they were ignorant about the history of the Korean war and Indian participation in support of South Korea.

Manoj Kumar, a resident of New Delhi who came visiting the park with his wife and child said that before coming to the Indo-Korean Friendship Park, he did not know about this aspect of history as Indian textbooks never mentioned it.

“During our school or college days, we never read about the Korean War and the role of India in this war. It is for the first time I got to know of this fact when I entered this park and saw the statues and little inscription on the pillars explaining the Indian-Korean history,” said Kumar.