Editorial Analysis à 14 July 2022 à The Hindu
India South Korea Relations
Political:
- The bilateral collaboration was upgraded to a “special strategic partnership” in May 2015.
- India has a significant role to play in South Korea’s Southern Policy, which seeks to strengthen contacts outside of the country’s immediate neighborhood.
- Similar to South Korea, South Korea plays a significant role in India’s Act East Policy, which aims to foster economic cooperation, cultural linkages, and the development of strategic alliances with nations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Regional Stability:
- India and South Korea share an interest in the regional tensions in South Asia, particularly those between China and India.
- This might be a cooperative strategy for maintaining regional stability.
Nuclear:
- India and South Korea both have a strong interest in managing their nuclear-armed neighbour, North Korea.
- North Korea is under pressure to limit its nuclear programme thanks to the US alliance structure that it has formed with Japan and South Korea.
- India’s economic interests and geographical reach in East Asia benefit from keeping North Korea in check.
- Additionally, as a responsible nuclear state, it strengthens its stance on the nuclear non-proliferation system.
Economic:
- India and South Korea currently conduct 21 billion USD in bilateral commerce, with a goal of 50 billion USD by the year 2030.
- The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was signed in 2010 by South Korea and India, has made it easier for their commercial connections to develop.
- India has established a “Korea Plus” facilitation cell under “Invest India” to direct, support, and handhold investors in order to facilitate investment from Korea.
India and South Korea’s CEPA:
About: India and South Korea have a free trade deal called the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
Dated: On August 7, 2009, the agreement was signed.
Advantages of the contract:
- It is comparable to a free trade pact.
- The agreement will give the Indian service sector in South Korea broader access.
- Information technology, engineering, finance, and law are all examples of services.
- Large levies on South Korean auto manufacturers will be reduced to less than 1%.
- Foreign direct investment limitations will be loosened by the deal.
- Companies are allowed to own up to 65 percent of businesses abroad.
- Since the deal was signed, trade volume has only risen.
Problems:
Korean businesses have inundated India with less expensive imports of finished goods, steel, and raw metal.
Diplomatic:
- With the ongoing verbal provocations and a conventional arms race, there is a persistent regional security conundrum.
- Seoul thus seems to be looking for a stronger diplomatic stance on pressing regional concerns outside of the alliance system, notwithstanding the alliance system.
- South Korea approaches India with the hope of deepening relations and ensuring a shared interest in developing regional and global strategic frameworks.
Cultural:
- The travelogue “Pilgrimage to the Five Kingdoms of India” by Korean Buddhist Monk Hyecho or Hong Jiao, who travelled to India from 723 to 729 AD, provides a vivid picture of Indian culture, politics, and society.
- Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore wrote a brief yet moving poem titled “Lamp of the East” about Korea’s illustrious past and its bright future in 1929.
Challenges:
- Stagnation in Economic Relationship: The annual value of the economic connection is $22 billion.
- Additionally, it appears that the defence alliance has regressed from holding immense potential on all fronts to the simple sale and acquisition of weaponry.
- People-to-people connections are hampered by cultural prejudices on both sides.
- During the Cold War, South Koreans may have had the popular misconception that India is a third-world nation that is wracked by poverty and starvation.
- Diaspora of Indians: There are still certain cases of racial prejudice or discrimination against Indians in South Korea, where the integration of Indians into the native population is far from complete.
- Inadequate recognition of Korean culture: To some extent, Indians find it difficult to tell South Koreans apart from Japanese and Chinese in terms of cultural and social traits.
- Potential of Cultural Centers Unrealized
- Ten years ago, the Indian Culture Center (ICC) was founded in Seoul.
- to encourage interpersonal interactions.
- However, ICC has to reach a much larger audience and broaden its focus beyond Seoul’s metropolitan, English-speaking elite.
- Similarly, South Korean cultural centres in India might be suitable.
Conclusion:
- Relations between India and the Republic of Korea (RoK) have advanced significantly in recent years and are now genuinely multifaceted.
- Strong mutual goodwill, high-level interactions, and strong interest convergence are the driving forces behind the bilateral relations.
