INDIA REPUBLIC OF KOREA BILATERAL RELATIONS
India-Republic of Korea (ROK) established diplomatic relations on 10 December 1973. Consular relations were established in 1962. Both countries formed a “Strategic Partnership” in year 2010, which was elevated to “Special Strategic Partnership” in year 2015 during the State Visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Seoul. Both countries commemorated 50 years of diplomatic ties in 2023.
Historical Connect:
- According to the 13thcentury Korean historical text "SamgukYusa" or “Heritage History of the Three Kingdoms", Princess Suriratna from Ayodhya, India came to Korea in the year 48 AD, married King Kim-Suro of the erstwhile Gaya Confederacy in ancient Korea and became Queen Heo Hwang-ok. Many Koreans trace their ancestry to this lineage. Some scholars believe that Buddhism reached Korea via the maritime route with the arrival of Princess Suriratna and her brother Monk Jangyu. Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore composed a short but evocative poem titled 'Lamp of the East' - in 1929 about Korea's glorious past and its promising bright future, which is fondly remembered by the Koreans and finds mention in Korean school textbooks.
India’s Role in Korean War:
- India played an important role in the Korean peninsula after Korea's independence in 1945. Former Indian diplomat Shri K P S Menon was the Chairman of the 9-member UN Commission set up in 1947 to hold elections in Korea. India sent an Army medical unit - the 60th Parachute Field Ambulance comprising of 627 medical personnel, commanded by Lt. Col. A.G. Rangaraj during the Korean War as part of the UN Command, and treated about 220,000 patients. During the Korean War (1950-53), both the warring sides accepted a UN resolution sponsored by India, and the ceasefire was declared on 27 July 1953. Lt. General K.S. Thimayya of India, served as the Chairman of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission [NNRC] after the armistice and contributed to resolving the humanitarian issues arising out of the War. India dispatched one Brigade Group designated as Custodian Forces -India (CFI) comprising 5230 personnel to Korea, under Major General SSP Thorat which was instrumental in resolving the Prisoners of War issue.
High-Level Exchanges:
4.PM Narendra Modi paid a State Visit to ROK from 18-19 May 2015, during which bilateral relationship was upgraded to ‘Special Strategic Partnership’. On the occasion of the State Visit of President Moon Jae-in to India on 08-11 July 2018, both countries issued a statement outlining a “Vision for People, Prosperity, Peace and our Future”. First Lady of ROK Ms. Kim Jung-sook visited India from November 04-07, 2018 as Guest of Honour for the “Deepotsav Festival” and participated in the ground breaking ceremony for construction of a memorial for Queen Heo at Ayodhya.
- PM Narendra Modi paid a State Visit to ROK from 21-22 February 2019 and unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at Yonsei University. PM Modi also gifted a Bodhi sapling to Gimhae City. He received the Seoul Peace Prize for his contribution to international cooperation and fostering global economic growth.
6.PM Narendra Modi and President Yoon Suk Yeol had their first in-person bilateral talks on the sidelines of G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan on 20 May’23 later President Yoon visited India on 9-10 September’23 to attend G20 Summit in New Delhi. On the sidelines of G20 Summit, PM Modi and President Yoon had a bilateral meeting on 10 September‘23. President Yoon congratulated PM on India’s G20 Presidency and success of Chandrayaan-3 Mission. They also reviewed progress on various areas of bilateral Special Strategic Partnership, including trade and investment, defence production, semiconductors and EV battery technology. Both leaders exchanged congratulatory letters on the occasion of 50 years of diplomatic ties on 10 December’23. President Yoon congratulated PM Narendra Modi on victory in the general elections in June’24. President Yoon and PM Narendra Modi also met on the sidelines of ASEAN Summit in Lao PDR in October’24.
Ministerial level Exchanges:
7.EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Seoul on March 05-06, 2024 for the 10th IndiaROK Joint Commission Meeting (JCM), which he co-chaired with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul. They undertook a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation in areas of trade, investments, development cooperation, defence and security, science and technology, culture and people-to-people exchange. The two Ministers also explored ways to further extend cooperation to new areas such as critical & emerging technologies, semiconductors, green hydrogen, human resource mobility and resilient supply chains, working both bilaterally and together with other countries. The discussions also covered developments of common interest and concern in the shared Indo-Pacific region. The two ministers later had a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in July 2024.
8.Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman led the Indian delegation to attend the 56th Annual General Meeting of Board of Directors of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in RoK from 02-05 May’23. On the sidelines, she also held bilateral talks with her Korean counterpart Mr. Choo Kyung-ho later the two Ministers also met in Bengaluru on the sidelines of G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Feb’23.
9.CIM Shri Piyush Goyal met his Korean counterpart, Mr. Inkyo Cheong during the 12th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Vientiane, Laos on 21 September ’24 mainly to review the India-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and explore opportunities for greater bilateral trade and investment. Earlier, CIM had met the Minister of Trade, industry and Energy , Mr. Ahn Duk-geun in November’23 in San Francisco on the sidelines of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Ministerial meeting and in August’23 on the sidelines of G20 Trade & Investment Ministers’ meeting in Jaipur.
10.MOS for External Affairs and Education, Mr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh participated in the Third Summit for Democracy-Ministerial Conference on the theme: ‘AI/Digital Technology and Democracy’ hosted by RoK Foreign Minister in Seoul on 18 March 2024. MoS Singh also met ROK Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul. They discussed the wide-ranging India-ROK relations, including economy, technology, culture and P2P ties.
Vice Minister and Senior level Official exchanges:
11.Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) Vikram Misri and 1st Deputy Director of National Security Kim Tae-hyo co-chaired the 4th India-ROK Deputy NSA-level Strategic Dialogue in August’23 in Seoul; Secretary (East) Saurabh Kumar and 1st Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyundong co-chaired the 5th Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue (FPSD) in January’23 (Seoul). The 2nd Policy Planning Dialogue was held in July’23 (Delhi). Bilateral Civil Nuclear Cooperation Talks were held between Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) in July’23 in Seoul. 4th India-ROK Consultations on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation was held in Seoul on 26 April’24. The 2nd edition of bilateral Cyber Dialogue was held on 28 May’24 in Seoul.The inaugural India-ROK-US Trilateral Dialogue on Critical & Emerging Technologies was held on 12 March’24 in Seoul. MeitY participated in the AI Global Forum and the AI Seoul Summit Ministerial Meeting was held on 22 May’24 in Seoul.
12.The 22nd India-Korea Strategic Dialogue co-organized by Ananta Aspen Centre and Seoul Forum for International Affairs was held in November 2023 in Seoul; 2nd 2+2 ICWA/RIS-KNDA/KIEP Policy Dialogue focusing on India-ROK ties in the Indo-Pacific context was held on 20 March’24 in Seoul; 5th ICWA KNDA policy dialogue was also held on 19 March’24 in Seoul. The inaugural India-ROK-Japan Trilateral Policy Planning was held at Seoul on 21st October’24 and India-ROK Bilateral Policy Planning Dialogue also took place in Seoul on 22nd October’24.
13.Governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do Mr. Lee Cheol-woo and the Governor of Gyeonggi-do Mr. Kim Dong-yeon visited India in May and July ‘23 respectively.Ministerial-level delegations from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Rajasthan visited ROK in 2023 and 2024 to explore business tie-ups.
Parliamentary Exchanges:
14.ROK National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo visited New Delhi (11-13 October’23) to attend the P20 Summit. He held a bilateral meeting with Hon’ble Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla; ROK Deputy Speaker Ms. Kim Young-joo visited India in October’22 and met members of Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs. The Speaker of ROK National Assembly Chung Sye-kyun had visited India in March’18.
15.Hon’ble Justice of Supreme Court Surya kant visited ROK in August’24 and met Chief Justices of Supreme Court of ROK and Constitutional Court of ROK; A delegation from the ROK Foreign Affairs & Unification Committee of the National Assembly visited India in October’22; Parliamentary delegation led by Ms. Back hye-ryun, Chairperson of National Policy Committee, visited India from Nov 25- Dec 02, 2022 and had a meeting with MOS Mr. V. Muraleedharan; Parliamentary delegation led by former Unification Minister Mr. Lee in-young visited India in Dec 2022 and had a meeting with the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs; Mr. Park Jeung, Chairperson of Environment and Labor Committee of ROK National Assembly met members of the Standing Committee on Water Resources of the Parliament of India in December 2023 in New Delhi.
Economic Relations:
16.Trade and economic relations gathered momentum following the implementation of CEPA in 2010. Bilateral trade between the two countries as of September 2024 is US$18.8 billion. India’s import volume as of September 2024 is US$14.1billion while the export volume is US$ 4.7 billion. Bilateral trade in 2022 reached record level of US$27.8 billion. India’s import volume stood at US$ 18.8 billion, while the export volume stood at US$ 9 billion. Major items of India’s exports to ROK are mineral fuels/oil distillates (mainly naphtha), cereals, iron and steel. ROK’s main export items are automobile parts, telecommunication equipment, hot rolled iron products, petroleum refined products, base lubricating oils, mechanical appliances, electrical machinery & parts and iron and steel products. 11th Round of CEPA upgradation negotiations were held in July 2024 in Seoul. .
- India and ROK launched an initiative ‘Korea Plus’ to promote and facilitate Korean investments in India. A Korea India SME and Start-up Centre was launched in September 2019 in Gurugram. To further strengthen the startup ecosystem of the respective nations, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Invest India and Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) on 08thApril 2021. Noteworthy Investments in Indian startups have been done by Korean companies like KEB Hana Bank, Mirae Assets, Naver, Krafton etc. RoK is 13thlargest FDI investor in India. Total investment made by ROK into India amounted to US$ 364 million during January-June 2024 [Latest data as of September 2024]. Majority of the investment has come from manufacturing. Cumulative investment since 1980 stands at $8.86 billion. Investment from India to ROK are to the tune of approx. USD 5.2 billion led by Tata Daewoo and Aditya Birla Group (Novelis). There are more than 600 large and small Korean firms operating in India. Tata Motors acquired Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company for USD 102 million in March 2004. The State Bank of India opened a branch in Seoul in January 2016 to provide wide range of services including loan services and project financing for Korean and Indian companies. Six Korean Banks have overall 14 branches in India. These include KEB Hana, Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Nonghyup and IBK. KEB Hana Banks is in the process of opening 2 more branches in India (Mumbai and Bengaluru). KB Kookmin Bank opened its new branches in Chennai and Pune each on October 16, 2024. The Indian Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ICCK) comprising Indian and Korean companies play a constructive role in promoting trade and investments linkages between the two countries. Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), the sovereign national fund of ROK, opened its first branch in India (Mumbai) in April 2024. India-Korea Fast Track Mechanism (FTM) was launched in August 2024 to expedite the resolution of issues and concerns of Korean investors and enhance their ease of doing business in India.
18.Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) visited ROK from 16-18 October 2023 for investment promotion. During the visit he met with his counterpart Vice Minister Jang Young-jin, and participated in an Investment and Trade Roadshow and sector-specific roundtables. Custom authorities of India and ROK launched Electronic Origin Data Exchange Systems (EODES) in December 2023 to facilitate efficient verification of imported goods under CEPA. 11th Round of CEPA upgradation negotiations were held in July 2024 in Seoul.
Defence Relations:
19.India and ROK defence relations have strengthened in recent years. The Defence Ministers of ROK and India have been interacting regularly since 2015. Secretary-level Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) for cooperation in defence industries & logistics between Korean Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA) and India’s Ministry of Defence is held regularly. Service level talks across the three arms of the military are held biennially. Navy and Coast Guard ships have been visiting each other’s ports on a regular basis and have also been holding joint exercises. ICG Ship SUJAY visited ROK in September 2024. A Roadmap for Defence Industries Cooperation was signed between the two countries in September 2020.
20.In recent exchanges, Navy staff talks were held in April 2023 in New Delhi. Army staff talks were held in September 2024 in India. The 12th High Level Meeting between the two coast guards was held in September 2024 in ROK. ROK Army Chief Park Jeong-hwan visited New Delhi in Sep 2023 to attend the Indo-Pacific Armies Chiefs Conference. General Manoj Pande, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) visited ROK in November 2023 and held separate bilateral meetings with General Park An-su, Chief of Staff, ROK Army and General Kim Seung-kyum, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff of ROK Armed Forces. A delegation from Korea Coast Guard participated in 9th NATPOLREX Exercise conducted by Indian Coast Guard in November 2023.
21.Chief of Staff, ROK Air Force, General Lee Youngsu, undertook an official visit to India on 17-21 March 2024. In New Delhi, he held bilateral talks with Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of Indian Air Force. He also met the Defence Secretary of India Shri Giridhar Armane and discussed new areas of cooperation in field of aerospace, AI and cyber technologies.
22.For the consecutive 2nd Year, India Pavillion was established at KADEX-2024, to represent India’s defence manufacturing capabilities among the foreign defence players.Indian participants also attended the Seoul Defence Dialogue held in September 2024. A delegation from National Defence College visited ROK in June 2024 on a study tour and a delegation from College of Defence Management visited ROK in October 2024. The Mission organised “India-ROK” Defence industry cooperation seminar in July 2024, which received positive response from Korean defence companies, followed with the 2nd edition of the seminar in October 2024.
Cultural Relations, Education and Tourism:
- SVCC has a number of MoUs with Korean Universities, Associations and some cities for furthering cultural collaboration. SVCC signed an MoU with the Gimhae city and ICCR for cultural cooperation in 2021 which envisages construction of the Gimhae India Cultural Exchange Museum in Gimhae. SVCC recently signed an MoU with the Seongdong Foundation of Arts and Culture [SDFAC] on September 2, 2024 to further foster cultural and artistic exchanges between India and RoK.
- A bust of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was unveiled in Seoul in May 2011. A Bodhi Tree sapling was officially presented to ROK in March 2014 at a ceremony in Korea National Arboretum. A bust of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled at the Hongbeop-sa temple in Busan in July 2014. A Bodhi Tree sapling and a bust of Mahatma Gandhi installed at Yonsei University, Songdo Campus, Incheon were gifted by PM Modi during his State Visit to ROK in 2019. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi was installed at the Yeonji Park in Gimhae, a section of which has been developed as India-Korea Friendship Park based on the life experiences of Mahatma Gandhi. As part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi, a Korea-India Peace Park was unveiled on June 3, 2019 and 150 trees planted at the historic Independence Park, Seodaemun district in Seoul. A statue of Lord Buddha was gifted by ICCR to the Tongdo-sa Temple in May 2021.A group of around 100 Korean Buddhist monks of Jogye order, completed a 43 days walking pilgrimage to sacred Buddhist sites in India in Feb-Mar 2023.
25.The Embassy organized International Day of Yoga 2024 events with support from local partners in several cities in RoK, including Nami Island (8 June), Jeju Island (15 June), Seoul (22 June), Miryang (22 June), and Busan (23 June). The Indian Embassy hosted a special event in September 2023 to launch the English edition of the book titled, “Gaya Buddhism, Unlatching the Gate” by Monk Domyeong, Chief Monk of Gimhae’s YeoYeo Jung Temple. The 2023 Korea-India Artist Camp was held in ROK from Sep-Nov 2023 with the participation of 10 artists from each country.
26.As part of the 10th edition of Sarang- The festival of India in RoK, Embassy has collaborated with a number of local partners to give shape to Art exhibitions, Indian classical dance performances, music, films, culinary related activities. In September 2024, Embassy collaborated with the Korea-India Contemporary Artists Association [KICAA] to hold a relay exhibition in various cities in RoK, which saw the display of artworks of around 50 Indian and Korean artists. A Kuchipudi dance troupe from India led by renowned artist Ms. Sreelakshmy Govardhan visited RoK in October 2024 and performed Kuchipudi dance workshops in various cities [Seoul, Anan, Gwangju, Yeogdoek, Nami Island and Busan] as part of the 10th edition of SARANG. For the first time India participated in the 29th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) from 02-11 October and an India pavilion was setup. 13 young film-makers from North East participated at BIFF to enhance global spread of Indian film industry. The 12th Indian Film Festival is scheduled to be held in Seoul in November 2024 showcasing award winning and critically acclaimed Indian films [Bahubali: The Beginning, Bahubali: The Conclusion, Kantara, Dangal, Three of Us and Lapataa Ladies, India’s entry into Oscars this year], with Korean subtitles. The Embassy also will be organizing a number of culinary activities with Korean local partners in the month of December 2024. Last year, an Indian Street Food festival was organized in collaboration with Korea Food Promotion Institute in Nov-Dec. Embassy also hosted a special event on 13 December 2023 to commemorate 50th anniversary of India-RoK Diplomatic ties.
Indian Community:
- The total number of Indian nationals living in ROK is estimated to be around 15,000. A large number of Indian scholars are pursuing post-graduate and Ph.D programmes, mostly in pure sciences. During the past few years, many professionals mainly in the areas of IT, shipping and automobile have come to ROK. They are working mostly with companies like Samsung, LG, Hyundai TATA Daewoo, TCS, Coupang etc. There are also significant number of Indian students and academicians in the universities. Several diaspora associations are active in the Republic of Korea.
(28 October 2024)
