Pakistani envoy visits Buddhist site in southern S. Korea

YEONGGWANG, South Korea, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- Pakistan's top envoy to Seoul visited the birthplace of Mahayana Buddhism in South Korea Tuesday, where he promised to seek increased cultural exchanges between the two nations.
Ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam toured a museum in Yeonggwang, some 322 kilometers south of Seoul, dedicated to the Indian Buddhist monk Marananta, who was among the first to bring the Mahayana teaching to Korea after arriving in Yeonggwang in the fourth century.
The monk is believed to have come from the Gandhara region located in the northwest of modern-day Pakistan.
The ambassador said he was deeply moved to see the flourishing of Mahayana Buddhism and Gandhari culture in Yeonggwang, and pledged to seek ways to expand cultural exchanges between the two countries.
He also visited a nuclear power plant and two high schools, where he gave lectures on Pakistani and Gandhari culture.