The Journal of Indian and Asian Studies

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea (hereafter referred to as Korea) and India in 1973, their bilateral relationship has made significant progress. This year marks the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic partnership, which calls for a scholarly examination of the developments in Korea-India relations over the last five decades, and their future prospects. This special issue’s introductory paper provides a concise overview of the evolution of Korea–India relationships and introduces the other papers in the issue, emphasizing their significance in understanding the trajectory of the relationships. The primary goal of this introductory paper is to make two contributions: First, it aims to enrich the existing literature on India–Korea relations; and second, it provides key insights for policymakers to strengthen India–Korea ties in a new global order.

The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and India. On the occasion of this golden jubilee, this study aims to first understand the major determinants for Korea-India relations since the Cold War. It will then highlight the way forward for further strengthening bilateral cooperation between Korea and India from a Korean perspective. The study found that the economic aspect was the main driving force for relations between Korea and India until recently. With the emergence of the Indo-Pacific era, political and security dimensions have also become important driving forces, especially due to the China factor. However, despite upgrading their strategic partnership as “special” in 2015, the two countries have not yet formulated an action plan on how to strengthen and specifically cooperate within it. There is a need to establish a blueprint for how Korea and India will develop their special strategic partnership in the Indo-Pacific era. In this situation, this study suggests four areas where Korea and India can promote and strengthen their relations in the coming years: minilateralism such as Korea, Australia, Indonesia, and India (KAII) in the Indo-Pacific area, para and city diplomacy, cooperation in the defense industry, and economic cooperation on major Chinese export items to India.

The economic security of middle powers across the world is being challenged by great power rivalry and, more recently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of the largest trade and investment countries globally, South Korea is amongst the middle powers most affected by these developments. In this context, South Korea needs to finetune its economic security strategy. One way of doing so is by diversifying its economic relations. In this respect, India, a fellow middle power and also one of the biggest economies in the world, is a key partner. Supply chains, trade, investment and human capital have all been benefiting from strengthening links between South Korea and India, and will be key moving forward as the former seeks to further boost its economic security. Indeed, South Korea and India have been strengthening their links in the intertwined areas of maritime security, cyber security, and economic security in recent years. This suggests that economic security is part of broader security cooperation between the two partners.

The US-China chip war is becoming more intense as both countries understand the significance of semiconductors for their economic security and national defense. As a result of nationalist and unilateral actions taken by the US and China under the chip war, other Asian economic powerhouses are reassessing their semiconductor strategies, leading to new opportunities for semiconductor partnerships in Asia among middle powers. South Korea, a leading semiconductor power in Asia, is facing critical challenges amid the chip war, that, in turn, resulted in reshaping its trade and overseas production strategies that are heavily reliant on China. To maintain its semiconductor dominance and ensure economic security, Korea is adopting new approaches such as export and production diversification. In the meantime, India, amid the ongoing US-China tech war, is also seeking to construct a resilient supply chain and decrease its reliance on China for imports. In the process, New Delhi is looking to develop its semiconductor industry and build chip ties with like-minded countries in production and workforce development. This opens up significant prospects for Korea-India semiconductor partnerships. This paper proposes three areas where Korea and India could collaborate: semiconductor trade partnerships, semiconductor production partnerships, and semiconductor workforce collaboration. By doing so, it highlights how the US-China chip war is creating new opportunities for other Asian economic powerhouses to collaborate in the semiconductor industry. This paper also provides insights for policymakers to set a new agenda for India-Korea partnerships as both countries celebrate the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties in 2023.

India and the Republic of Korea (RoK) are, respectively, the second and sixth largest economies of Asia with significant trade ties since the historic past. India is currently negotiating to upgrade the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the RoK, which was operationalized on January 1, 2010. A key area of concern for India has been its increasing trade deficit with the RoK which has more than doubled since 2009–10. This paper aims to analyze the flow of goods, services and investment between the two sides in major sectors of interest in the last decade. Further, it aims to identify barriers to trade and investment for the Indian exporters and areas of improvement in the CEPA and beyond to enhance economic gains for both sides.

Great attention has been paid to the bilateral economic relations between India, Vietnam, and South Korea; however, only scant research has focused on the prospects of triangular economic cooperation among the three countries. Given the advantage and demand for the cooperation of each party, there is significant potential for trilateral economic cooperation among South Korea, Vietnam, and India. In this paper, we discover the prospects for their triangular economic cooperation in three aspects. First, this study examines the potential for cooperation in production networks and supply chains between the three countries in the context of reconfiguring the global value chains (GVCs), with a focus on the leading role of South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs). Second, the study explores trilateral cooperation in the digital economy and connectivity, focusing on how South Korea and India can collaborate on investment projects in Vietnam. Third, this study discusses the rationale and possibility of forming a regional trade agreement (RTA) between the three countries. South Korea, Vietnam, and India have extant bilateral trade agreements between two of the three countries; however, there is no regional integration among the three countries discussed in specific. Considering the bilateral relations and domestic and external factors, the paper reckons that an RTA for starters between the three countries would be mutually beneficial to each of the corresponding economies.

Korea and India have had a Special Strategic Partnership in place from 2015 and the India-Korea diplomatic relations have entered its 50th year, but still the full potential of the relationship has not been tapped into by both sides. Korea's New Southern Policy and India's Act East Policy did provide some momentum and some significant progress in the cultural, people-to-people links were seen, but when it came to strategic and hard security issues, this relationship fell short. Even in the economic sphere, the two sides signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2009, but still there are talks underway for updating the CEPA. But now with Korea devising its new Indo-Pacific strategy and India being one of the strong advocates of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific concept, there is scope that this relationship will now delve into strategic issues that are haunting the geo-political climate of the Indo-Pacific region. Finally it seems the time is opportune for the two countries to develop a credible strategic and security partnership. This article after tracing the trajectory of the India-Korea relations from 2015 onwards, analyses if now with Korea unveiling its Strategy for a Free, Peaceful and Prosperous Indo-Pacific, will India finally figure in its strategic calculus? If India will also perceive Korea as an important partner for furthering its ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region?

For the past two decades, India and South Korea have sought to create a strategic convergence in their long-term cooperation. Defense cooperation, which has been discussed bilaterally, is a key area of their partnership, should it later be transformed to companionship. As some of their efforts have materialized, South Korea has become the fifth largest exporter of conventional arms to India. Markedly, Seoul and New Delhi are on the way to restyle their regional strategies towards each other to fit into their Indo-Pacific strategies. In the course, two sides have found valid points to explore stronger partnership than in the past. The stronger driver they have now is likely to sustain in the future as they already made some meaningful progress in the last decade. In this latest move, the two sides appear to be on the right trajectory; however, the future awaits a more productive joint effort.

India and South Korea relationship has seen remarkable journey in the last three decades. Apart from rising political and economic weights of both the countries, India and South Korea have also emerged as important soft powers in the region. Their soft powers are based on their rich cultural and historical heritages, their democratic traditions and productions of world famous entertainment contents such as movies, dramas, music and so on. The awareness of the cultural connection between the two countries might have been less than expected but both the countries are indeed committed to reach out each other through these connections. Actually soft powers of both the countries are also useful in connecting them bilaterally as well as providing them access to the Southeast Asian countries. This paper tries to look at the role of soft powers of both the countries in their bilateral relations. When the small and middle powers of the region are forced by the US-China contests to work more on their hard powers and alliances/partnerships, the paper argues that a cooperative narrative may emerge in the region through the soft powers reach outs of India and South Korea and their attempts of agenda setting for the region. The paper would also try to explore trajectory of India-South Korea people-to-people connections and flag problems and prospects in the process.