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Construction of the ‘Queen Huh Memorial Park’ in Ayodhya, in the memory of a princess of Ayodhya who according to legend had travelled to Korea and married the king of a province there in AD 48, could finally begin in about three months from now, before a likely visit of a highlevel South Korean delegation for the Diwali festival in the temple town.The project, a key one in the efforts to strengthen cultural exchanges between the two countries, will however come up in an area less than one-fifth the size of the original piece of land marked for the project by the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh . This was decided after a study by the Korean government showed that flood waters from the Sarayu River could inundate most of the original site area of 55,765 square metres once in five years.The new site of about 10,000 sq mts behind the upcoming Ram Katha Museum is located away from the river. The state government hopes this would make both locations — the museum and the memorial — hot tourist attractions. “The Korean side has seen the new location and approved it. We are awaiting designs from the Korean side by July. Construction will begin in three months,” Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea is coordinating with the UP government for the project. It is believed that in 48 AD, the princess had travelled to the Korean province of Gimhae where the king, Kim Suro, married her and made her the principal queen. There, she was known as Queen Huh-Wang-Ak. King Kim Suro and the queen founded the Karak Clan. Today, there are about 70 lakh people in Korea who derive their origin from this dynasty, as per a concept note of the UP government.A Queen Huh Memorial Park was established in Ayodhya by the UP government in collaboration with Gimhae City of South Korea in 2001. A much bigger memorial is planned now.The design of the new memorial is expected to enable people to experience the princess’ journey from Ayodhya to the Mangsan island in Korea by sea and a ‘timeless bridge’ from the queen’s pavilion towards that of the king. The king’s pavilion will be hexagonal like a traditional ancient Korean one.UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had in April written to South Korea President Moon Jae-in , inviting him for the Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya this November. Since the Korean President is expected to visit India this July, a high-powered delegation from Korea is likely to visit Ayodhya during Diwali, officials in the UP government said.