By Anita Inder Singh
Samsung, Hyundai, and LG — all South Korean companies—are household names in India. They came to mind when external affairs minister S Jaishankar visited Seoul from March 5-7 and met Cho Tae-yul, minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Korea. The visit followed President Yoon Suk Yeol’s trip to Delhi to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi last September.
The visits signified the economic and strategic importance of South Korea in India’s “Act East” policy. Additionally, China’s economic-cum-strategic threats in the Indo-Pacific, which has become the primary arena for US-China strategic competition, are major reasons why Seoul and Delhi wish to strengthen their ties to deal with emerging security challenges.
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India is keen to expand into new areas, such as critical and emerging technologies, semiconductors, green hydrogen, human resource mobility, nuclear cooperation, and supply chain resilience with South Korea, Asia’s second economic tiger, after Japan.
South Korea has lessons to offer India and other developing countries. Its GDP per capita — $32,422.6 — is higher than India’s $2,410.9 and China’s $12,720.2.
India’s economic and trade ties with South Korea follow the pattern of its weak economic relationships with other Indo-Pacific countries. Economic ties between India and South Korea are far from achieving their full potential. While trade between the two countries has increased over the last decade, a mere 2.9 % of South Korea’s exports come to India, while 24% go to China. 1.3 % imports of South Korea’s imports come from India, and 1.7 % of Indian exports go to South Korea.
South Korea and India have troubled political neighbourhoods because of their complex histories. Both are challenged strategically by a rising China. Indian diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific must contend with the presence of major powers around the Korean peninsula—China, Japan, Russia, and the US—which have created Seoul’s greatest security challenges. South Korea confronts the geostrategic realities of being close to China—both physically and economically — with the help of China’s integral role in managing relations with North Korea.
Such considerations explain why South Korea is building partnerships in Asia by strengthening economic ties with India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations under its New Southern Policy (NSP) of 2017.
The policy stresses political and strategic cooperation, economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges. South Korea has striven to expand trade in the Indo-Pacific. It has also prioritised development cooperation, and has increased funding for projects in Southeast Asian countries to counter China’s widespread economic influence.
Additionally, as China’s economy slows down, South Korean companies hope to move manufacturing to other countries. India could be one of them, and secure investments in manufacturing. But it faces stiff competition from Vietnam, whose position on global supply chains is second only to that of China.
South Korea is not a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, but in March 2020 it attended the Quad Plus meetings, which included non-Quad countries, to discuss responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
South Korea’s approach to the Quad and the concept of a free and open Indo-Pacific is to work with Quad partners while avoiding open endorsement of any regional strategies that could spark a direct confrontation with China.
Like non-aligned India, South Korea is wary of China’s hostile reaction to the Quad. The group’s continued focus on issues such as pandemic management, infrastructure development, climate change, and emerging technologies dovetail with South Korea’s NSP priorities.
Simultaneously, as US-China frictions intensify, South Korea is worried about becoming entangled in their competition. This has been obvious since 2017, when China mounted a campaign of economic coercion in retaliation for Seoul’s decision to allow the deployment of a US missile defence system in South Korea. China thus weaponised economic ties to shape its strategic decisions. There are lessons for India to learn from Beijing’s handling of its Pacific neighbours, even richer ones like South Korea and Japan.
Seoul’s NSP is highly complementary to American interests in the Indo-Pacific. Since 2021, the US and South Korea have stressed shared goals to expand regional coordination on cybersecurity, public health, law enforcement, and promoting a green (pandemic) recovery.
In 2023, South Korea and the US began annual military drills to bolster their readiness against North Korean nuclear threats, after the latter raised animosities with a series of missile tests. The threat of conflict with the North remains a harsh reality for South Korea.
That is a major reason why South Korea has developed a capability for arms production. Its ambitious goal is to become the world’s fourth-largest weapons exporter by 2027. It has ramped up arms exports to become a world supplier. India has bought the K9 howitzer. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Poland has bought South Korean howitzers, tanks, jets, and multiple rocket launchers, at a time of “rapid changes in the security situation”.
Like Japan, South Korea offers lessons to India for making progress through education. India’s ambition to develop prestigious projects, such as chip manufacturing, will only be achieved if it imparts high levels of education to all citizens. Since 2011, South Korea has fostered the strategic and global talents of its citizens by incorporating STEAM, which aims to connect the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, with arts, in all elementary and middle schools.
Economics and security are intertwined. India can learn much about good economics and education from South Korea’s experiences with the aim of promoting the well-being of its citizens and countering China in Asia.
Anita Inder Singh, Founding professor, Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, New Delhi
By Anita Inder Singh
Samsung, Hyundai, and LG — all South Korean companies—are household names in India. They came to mind when external affairs minister S Jaishankar visited Seoul from March 5-7 and met Cho Tae-yul, minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Korea. The visit followed President Yoon Suk Yeol’s trip to Delhi to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi last September.
The visits signified the economic and strategic importance of South Korea in India’s “Act East” policy. Additionally, China’s economic-cum-strategic threats in the Indo-Pacific, which has become the primary arena for US-China strategic competition, are major reasons why Seoul and Delhi wish to strengthen their ties to deal with emerging security challenges.
India is keen to expand into new areas, such as critical and emerging technologies, semiconductors, green hydrogen, human resource mobility, nuclear cooperation, and supply chain resilience with South Korea, Asia’s second economic tiger, after Japan.
South Korea has lessons to offer India and other developing countries. Its GDP per capita — $32,422.6 — is higher than India’s $2,410.9 and China’s $12,720.2.
India’s economic and trade ties with South Korea follow the pattern of its weak economic relationships with other Indo-Pacific countries. Economic ties between India and South Korea are far from achieving their full potential. While trade between the two countries has increased over the last decade, a mere 2.9 % of South Korea’s exports come to India, while 24% go to China. 1.3 % imports of South Korea’s imports come from India, and 1.7 % of Indian exports go to South Korea.
South Korea and India have troubled political neighbourhoods because of their complex histories. Both are challenged strategically by a rising China. Indian diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific must contend with the presence of major powers around the Korean peninsula—China, Japan, Russia, and the US—which have created Seoul’s greatest security challenges. South Korea confronts the geostrategic realities of being close to China—both physically and economically — with the help of China’s integral role in managing relations with North Korea.
Such considerations explain why South Korea is building partnerships in Asia by strengthening economic ties with India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations under its New Southern Policy (NSP) of 2017.
The policy stresses political and strategic cooperation, economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges. South Korea has striven to expand trade in the Indo-Pacific. It has also prioritised development cooperation, and has increased funding for projects in Southeast Asian countries to counter China’s widespread economic influence.
Additionally, as China’s economy slows down, South Korean companies hope to move manufacturing to other countries. India could be one of them, and secure investments in manufacturing. But it faces stiff competition from Vietnam, whose position on global supply chains is second only to that of China.
South Korea is not a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, but in March 2020 it attended the Quad Plus meetings, which included non-Quad countries, to discuss responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
South Korea’s approach to the Quad and the concept of a free and open Indo-Pacific is to work with Quad partners while avoiding open endorsement of any regional strategies that could spark a direct confrontation with China.
Like non-aligned India, South Korea is wary of China’s hostile reaction to the Quad. The group’s continued focus on issues such as pandemic management, infrastructure development, climate change, and emerging technologies dovetail with South Korea’s NSP priorities.
Simultaneously, as US-China frictions intensify, South Korea is worried about becoming entangled in their competition. This has been obvious since 2017, when China mounted a campaign of economic coercion in retaliation for Seoul’s decision to allow the deployment of a US missile defence system in South Korea. China thus weaponised economic ties to shape its strategic decisions. There are lessons for India to learn from Beijing’s handling of its Pacific neighbours, even richer ones like South Korea and Japan.
Seoul’s NSP is highly complementary to American interests in the Indo-Pacific. Since 2021, the US and South Korea have stressed shared goals to expand regional coordination on cybersecurity, public health, law enforcement, and promoting a green (pandemic) recovery.
In 2023, South Korea and the US began annual military drills to bolster their readiness against North Korean nuclear threats, after the latter raised animosities with a series of missile tests. The threat of conflict with the North remains a harsh reality for South Korea.
That is a major reason why South Korea has developed a capability for arms production. Its ambitious goal is to become the world’s fourth-largest weapons exporter by 2027. It has ramped up arms exports to become a world supplier. India has bought the K9 howitzer. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Poland has bought South Korean howitzers, tanks, jets, and multiple rocket launchers, at a time of “rapid changes in the security situation”.
Like Japan, South Korea offers lessons to India for making progress through education. India’s ambition to develop prestigious projects, such as chip manufacturing, will only be achieved if it imparts high levels of education to all citizens. Since 2011, South Korea has fostered the strategic and global talents of its citizens by incorporating STEAM, which aims to connect the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, with arts, in all elementary and middle schools.
Economics and security are intertwined. India can learn much about good economics and education from South Korea’s experiences with the aim of promoting the well-being of its citizens and countering China in Asia.
Anita Inder Singh, Founding professor, Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, New Delhi
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