Indo Korean Friendship Park misses attention of Korea-India Friendship (Dosti) Photo/Video contestants
NEW DELHI: Over a thousand contestants from across India who participated in the Korea-India Friendship (Dosti) Photo/Video Contest 2020 recently, and submitted their photographs and videos depicting the strong India Korea bond, missed on a crucial symbol of friendship between the two countries.
The New Delhi-based Indo-Korean Friendship Park, which is India’s first such park built around the theme of mutual friendship (Dosti) between the two countries did not find space in thousands of entries the Embassy of the Republic of Korea received from the Indian participants.
Probably, unaware of its existence, none of the participants clicked the photos or shot videos of this park situated in the Indian Army Cantonment Area hardly 6 km away from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. If clicked or shot, the park could have been the ideal entry in the contest and also a strong contender for winning this open and nationwide competition.
“Unfortunately, there is no contestant who submitted a photo of our Indo-Korean Friendship Park,” confirmed the South Korean Embassy in New Delhi that organized the event, in reply to a query by the Asian Community News (ACN) Network.
From 1st September to 30th September 2020, the embassy received over 1,000 entries from all corners of India including 31 states and union territories such as Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odissa, etc. The winning photos and videos were around subjects like Indian Princess Huh from Ayodhya marrying Korean King Kim Suro, and other cultural and language similarities between the two countries. But none of the entry was on Indo Korean Friendship Park.
The Indian Army developed the park in association with the Korean War Veterans Association and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in India.
Related article: India’s First Indo-Korean Friendship Park ready in New Delhi
The Indo-Korean Friendship 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.
Situated in Thimayya Park near Army Base Hospital, the park has a statue of General Thimayya, the Indo-Korean handshake artifact as well as four backdrop pillars with fiber material.
Indo-Korean handshake artifact welcomes the guests after they enter the park, and very well symbolizes the friendship between India and South Korea.
The other fiber-made pillars in the backdrop display detail of 60 Para Field Ambulance Brigade of the Indian Army that had participated in the Korean War. Another section is about General K S Thimayya explaining the Indian armed force’s mission in Korea, as well as 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’
However, the park was completed about a month before India announced the lockdown in March, and this could be probably the reason why not many people know about it.
