PESHAWAR: Korean monks and tourists on Tuesday prayed in front of the Maittirya statue at Peshawar Museum, which has one of the richest collections of Buddha statues and stones with stories of his life carved on them, in the country.

Chief monk Han Jeongsup led the prayers.

The visitors, who included former Korean army chief of staff Park Heeto, chief monk Han Jeongsup, Lee Keun Ho, Song Jaewoom, Cho Sanghyun, Lee Yangkil and Seo Moonseon, later went to different galleries of the museum to see remains of Gandhara civilisation.

Easter Park, a Korean citizen, who is settled in Pakistan and acted as a translator for delegates, said delegates were very happy to see rare artifacts at the museum.

According to the delegates, like other Koreans, they considered Pakistan a place where places of importance for followers of different faiths, including places of worship, were not protected and respected but the visit have made them to think otherwise as people and the government are protecting sacred places and artifacts of Buddhist period quite impressively.

They said they found Pakistanis to be very nice and simple and that they would educate their people home about the ground realities in Pakistan.

Provincial minister for archaeology and tourism Aqil Shah said visit of Korean monks would promote tourism in the province. He regretted that promotion of religious tourism had never been a priority for previous governments.

The minister said terrorism had badly affected tourism industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which had many historic and scenic places for local and foreign tourists.

“In previous years, not only the number of tourists coming in dropped but also the image of the province as a safe place was tarnished. However, things are improving,” he said.

Mr Zahir said more than 350 million people could be attracted from Buddhist countries to the province, which was a holy place for Buddhists. He said the government would continue promoting tourism in the province.

The minister said after the devolution of the tourism ministry under 18th Amendment in the Constitution, the government had planned to focus on promotion of religious tourism.

“After these Korean tourists and monks return and tell their people about this place and people, then it will encourage more pilgrims from Buddhist countries to come here,” he said.

Chief monk Han Jeonsup said he and other delegates were happy to see that Buddhist sites and monuments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were preserved well.

He said the visitors spent four days in the country and strongly felt that Korea and Pakistan should strengthen bilateral relations in culture and other fields.

The Korean delegation later went to Takh Bhai, another sacred Buddhist site, in Mardan district, where they prayed and offered fruit as a homage to scholars, who taught there during Gandhara civilisation. They later left for Swat valley, another place with lots of Gandhara monuments and sites.