2023 marked the fiftieth anniversary of India-South Korea diplomatic relations. 2025 marked the tenth anniversary of the India-South Korea Particular Strategic Partnership. But, each years handed with out a lot fanfare within the two nations.
It’s maybe not a coincidence that there have been restricted top-level conferences between South Korea and India. The final state go to by the Korean president to India was in July 2018, and the final state go to by the Indian prime minister to South Korea was in February 2019, greater than seven years in the past. Aside from having transient conferences at worldwide occasions, the 2 nations’ leaders have had restricted interplay.
This lack of vitality is puzzling, contemplating that India’s strategic place has skyrocketed over the previous decade. Amid rising international instability, nations’ and firms’ seek for a dependable companion has led them to India. India has surpassed France and the UK to develop into the world’s fifth-largest financial system and is anticipated to overhaul Japan and Germany to develop into the third-largest by the top of this decade. The world’s most populous nation and the most important democracy has additionally improved its enterprise setting by investing closely in infrastructure and liberalizing overseas direct funding guidelines.
Not too long ago, main economies have declared strategic papers on India: the United Kingdom introduced the “2030 Roadmap for India-U.Ok. Future Relations” in 2021, Germany adopted with it “Give attention to India” in 2024, and Australia proclaimed “A New Roadmap for Australia’s Financial Engagement with India.” Some have introduced long-term cooperation plans with India, equivalent to “France-India Horizon 2047,” the “Japan-India Joint Imaginative and prescient for the Subsequent Decade,” and “Joint India-European Union Complete Strategic Agenda.”
These overarching methods cowl numerous areas together with commerce, funding, know-how, protection, sustainable improvement, safety, science, schooling, tradition, and migration, and specify the establishments and platforms in command of discussing and operationalizing collaboration.
Leaders and high-ranking officers from India and these companion nations have often met and produced a dizzyingly lengthy record of outcomes, together with roadmaps, memoranda of understanding, and declarations of intent between numerous stakeholders. These outcomes present the breadth of agendas in addition to the willingness to transcend rhetoric and create one thing substantial. For instance, on the Japan-India Summit Assembly in August 2025, along with 12 memoranda and paperwork exchanged between governments, no fewer than 170 memoranda of understanding have been exchanged between corporations and organizations.
In distinction, South Korea at present doesn’t have an official India technique and has not held high-ranking conferences overlaying broad agendas to such an extent in recent times. Sadly, India and South Korea haven’t but found the synergies of their multi-alignment methods, however situations are quickly falling into place.
The temper is anticipated to alter dramatically as President Lee Jae-myung visits India from April 19-21. The present Korean authorities, which took workplace in June 2025, is devoted to inheriting and advancing the New Southern Coverage of the Moon Jae-in administration (2017-22), which targeted on deepening relationships with Asia’s rising economies. The federal government is implicitly getting ready for a multipolar world through the use of the time period “International South” in its 123 Nationwide Coverage Agenda. The doc highlighted the diplomatic and financial significance of the International South and the federal government’s intention to improve partnerships. On this context, it isn’t shocking that the present South Korean authorities will make its utmost effort to strengthen its relationship with India, the main voice of the International South.
Whereas government-to-government interplay has been restricted, Korean companies have been accelerating their entry into India. Since Samsung Electronics inaugurated the “world’s largest cellular manufacturing facility” in Uttar Pradesh in 2018, India has been its predominant smartphone producing location. Hyundai Motor has its largest abroad manufacturing base in India, with its Tamil Nadu manufacturing facility producing 762,900 automobiles in 2024-25. It continues to guess on India and plans to develop manufacturing capability to 1 million by leveraging a brand new manufacturing facility in Maharashtra. LG Electronics is developing a big manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh. When accomplished, its three factories in India may have the capability to supply 4.7 million air conditioners, 3.75 million washing machines, 3.6 million fridges, and a couple of million televisions. Hyundai and LG’s funding shall be backed by capital raised by way of itemizing shares in India in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Korean funding in India goes past manufacturing and covers numerous sectors equivalent to R&D, video games, and finance.
The place the 2 nations lack cooperation is in strategic industries, which require intense collaboration and coordination between the private and non-private sectors. Strategic sectors contain partnerships on a number of fronts, equivalent to governments, analysis and schooling establishments, industrial our bodies, and companies. Given the 2 nations’ strengths, there’s nice potential to strengthen value-chain resilience and financial safety by working collectively in strategic sectors. Outstanding sectors embrace protection and shipbuilding by which the pursuits of each nations are clear.
The South Korean president’s go to to India shall be a key turning level for upgrading the 2 nations’ relationship not simply within the financial area but additionally in safety, tradition, and people-to-people ties.
Not like 2023 and 2025, 2026, firstly of a brand new part within the Particular Strategic Partnership’s second decade, will hopefully be remembered as one thing particular.
