Margrethe leaves South Korea, Henrik @ home

Yesterday Queen Margrethe gave her customary end-of-visit press meeting in Seoul and left South Korea late to return to Denmark. She said that although Prince Henrik was not seriously ill, he was not well enough to participate in the state visit events nor the private part of the visit. The original plan was to stay until Friday when they were to visit the Gyeongju museum without walls. Since the regent couple had planned to do this together, the Queen said it wouldn't be the same to do it without Prince Henrik. Still, the Queen's archeological interest was somewhat satisfied yesterday when she toured Changdeokgung Palace's centuries-old secret garden in Seoul, some of which which dates from 1628. Apparently the Queen was charmed by Piwon, or the secret garden, one of Korea's best preserved gardens known for its beauty, architecture and harmony with nature. After the open air news conference in the Palace garden and a tour of the Piwon secret garden, the Queen flew to the port city of Uslan in the south east of the country to visit the Hyundai Shipyards. The Queen departed late yesterday evening.

From Today's Zaman Danish prince departs S. Korea due to illness

11.10.07 AP Seoul: Prince Henrik of Denmark left for home Wednesday, cutting short a trip to South Korea due to illness, the Danish Embassy said.
Queen Margrethe, with whom he arrived on Saturday, planned to leave Thursday, one day ahead of schedule. The 73-year-old prince departed for Copenhagen after being briefly admitted to a local hospital earlier this week suffering from bronchitis, said Um Sun-young, a spokeswoman at the Danish Embassy in Seoul. Henrik has recovered some since he was discharged from the hospital Tuesday, Um said. "I am sad that he had to return home," Margrethe said at an outdoor news conference Wednesday in Seoul, excerpts of which were broadcast on Denmark's TV2 News channel. Henrik "is not seriously ill but he feels really bad," Margrethe said. "One can feel really bad without being seriously ill." After the news conference, Margrethe flew to Ulsan, a southeastern industrial and port city, to tour Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. shipyards before returning back to Seoul later Wednesday, Um said.

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