Why South Korean First Lady wants to visit Ayodhya

South Korean First Lady Kim Jung-sook is in India on her first foreign visit without being accompanied by husband and nation's President Moon Jae-in. Ayodhya prominently features on her four-day visit to India.

She will be the chief guest of the Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh during Deepotsva (lighting of lamps) celebrations on November 6.

Display of oil lamps during Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya | Photo from REUTERS

Ayodhya has a deep and centuries-old connect with South Korea. But, it was discovered in 2000-01, when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was in power that a princess from Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram, had become a queen of South Korea and started ruling a dynasty there some 2,000 years ago.

The lineage is known as Karak dynasty in the history of South Korea. The dynasty was based in Kimhae, a town located near Pusan renamed as Busan, the second-most populous city after the capital Seoul in South Korea.

The name of the princess of Ayodhya is mostly known by South Korean sources, where she is named as Heo Hwang-ok. Her original Indian name is believed to have been Suriratna.