South Korean President Moon Jae-in recently visited India for a bilateral meet.
While ties have been drifting apart for a while due to lack of sustained engagement, the current meet would help in restoring the subdued warmth.
What is context in which the visit is taking place?
Mr. Moon has long argued for enhancing ties with India to the level of South Korea’s engagement with its major allies (US, Japan and China).
PM Modi too has often said he sees South Korea as a significant partner for India, and had travelled to Seoul earlier.
But despite the personal touch, and ambitions to align India’s Act East policy with Korea’s New Southern Policy, ties have drifted for lack of focus.
As both countries face neighbourhood tensions and are strained to engage with the major world powers, the bilateral engagements had taken a toll.
What is the state of business ties?
At just about $20 billion, bilateral trade is a fraction of the potential, given that India and South Korea are Asia’s third and fourth largest economies.
Even after signing the “Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement” (CEPA) in 2009, the results haven’t been great.
Notably, South Korea enjoys a large trade surplus with India and this has made India wary of further opening up to trade.
In turn, Korean companies cite problems in doing business in India, despite a special “Korea Plus” desk set up by the Prime Minister’s Office in 2015.
Tourism between the two countries has always been low, and there has been little vision to capitalise on this potential area.
What are the outcomes of the visit?
Both Mr. Moon and Mr. Modi had displayed clear sense of purpose in advancing mutual ties, and this was amply visible in the recent meet.
Business - Agreement to invoke the “early harvest” clause in the 2009 CEPA will allow both to do away with tariffs in 11 areas.
This would benefit Indian seafood exporters and food processing units, as well as South Korean petrochemical companies.
The inauguration of Samsung’s biggest mobile factory in Noida will bring investment and create jobs in India.
Furthering economic ties will depend on how the negotiations of “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership” (RCEP) are proceeding.
Strategic Front - Presently, U.S. foreign policy is unpredictable, and China’s is making purposeful moves towards global domination.
India has asserted itself as a “stakeholder” in the Korean peace process, while South Korea has shown interest for evolving a shared Indo-Pacific outlook.
In this context, it is important that the South Korea-India partnership grows and consolidates, to contribute to stability in the region.
