The Korea Forest Service(KFS) said Friday it held an event in Turkey Thursday celebrating the opening of a special Korean botanical garden at the ongoing Antalya Expo 2016.

According to the KFS, the Korea Garden is a token of gratitude to Turkey for setting up a botanical garden during the Suncheon Garden Expo in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province in 2013, as well as for sending troops to fight for South Korea during the Korean War.

It is the first Korean botanical garden overseas set up by the KFS since the agency took charge of garden-related policies last year. The city government of Suncheon helped set it up.

The garden, built on one-thousand-371 square-meter land at a cost of 960 million won, or 842 million U.S. dollars, has replicas of gardens set up by foreign countries during the Suncheon Garden Expo.

In a celebratory speech, Kim Yong-ha, deputy minister of the KFS, said he expects the Korean garden, like other South Korean cultural aspects such as pop music, dramas and food, will enhance the understanding of the country.

Suncheon Mayor Cho Choong-hoon and South Korean Ambassador to Turkey Cho Yun-soo also attended the event.