Narendra Modi's South Korea visit: Key points of focus for India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's last leg of his three-nation tour will be in South Korea. The PM will land in Seoul on May 18 after concluding his trips to China and Mongolia.

PM Modi's soft diplomacy has won hearts wherever he has gone, and continuing this trend, upon arrival in Seoul, he will lay a wreath at the Seoul National Cemetery. This cemetery holds much importance in South Korean history and here PM Modi will be paying his tribute to the departed men who made significant contributions to the country.

The PM will then be accorded an official welcome after which he will hold talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

The two leaders will on May 19 attend the 6th Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul. Later, President Park and Mayor of Seoul will accompany Modi on a tour of a stream in the city.

Important business meets and signing of agreements will be a part of PM Modi's itinerary here as significant business in fields of trade, shipping, logistics and new energy is expected to be conducted.

He will also attend a reception by the Indian community settled there.

India–South Korea relations

The diplomatic ties between India and Republic of Korea (RoK) had been formally established in 1973, and the relations have only grown stronger since South Korean firms took risk to begin investing in India in 1991 — at a time when other countries were wary of treading and trading in the recently-liberalised economy. Until then the Indo-RoK relations lacked strategic and economic focus, but since '91 when India adapted its 'Look East Policy', bilateral trade and relations have flourished.

A Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue between the two countries was started as an annual affair for deliberations on topics of mutual cooperation and discussing issues related to regional and international security matters.

Subsequent MOUs over matters of defence cooperation that were signed in 2005 and 2006 have further strengthened relations.

The upgradation of Indo-RoK relations to the status of 'Strategic Partnership' further ratified the seriousness of the two countries towards each other.

The relations have enhanced in the recent years by multiple high-level visits like former president Lee Myung-bak’s tour in 2010, ex-president Pratibha Patil's visit in 2011, closely-followed by former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit in 2012. Current South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited India in January 2014. And after PM Modi's victory last year, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj visited South Korea in December last year for the eighth India-South Korea Joint Commission meet and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited Seoul in April 2015.

Both India and South Korea have troubled neighbourhoods and understand the importance of peace — a factor necessary for economic growth. The two countries share common concerns which call for deeper strategic cooperation.

The Republic of Korea-India-Japan trilateral dialogue has been established to find solutions to regional and bilateral issues and concerns which is important to counter China's growing aggressive stance in the region. Seoul's closeness with Beijing has existed for long, but of late the relationship has developed some strains. All fingers pointed at North Korea's involvement in the 2009 sinking of RoK's Cheonan warship —in which 46 South Korean seamen were killed. However, China shielded Pyongyang over the matter in UN Security Council, thereby leaving South Korea sour. India, Japan and South Korea have begun to form a troika of sorts to counter China's growing dominance in the region and the three nations will hope that 'friends' Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and PM Modi will find resonance in President Park Gyeun-hye.

Trade

The bilateral trade between the two countries currently stands at about USD 16 billion. Approximately 300 Korean companies — including bigwigs like Samsung, Hyundai Motors and LG — employ 40,000 Indians and have invested USD 3 billion in India. On the other hand, India's investment in Korea stands at USD 2 billion and PM Modi will be looking forward to exploring greater penetration for Indian pharmaceutical and IT products in the Korean market.

PM Modi is well-aware that a productive South Korea trip can be a major fillip for the projects that he promised to deliver during his 2014 General Elections campaign. Ahead of his trip, he had interacted with their media and emphasised that there can be no better partner than South Korea for the 'Make in India' initiative. PM Modi is also likely to focus on getting financial assistance from South Korea investment for his pet projects like smart cities, Digital India and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

The Prime Minister has time-and-again stressed on marrying South Korea's strength — its manufacturing sector with India's workforce, to make the most of their partnership. The Indian delegation will keenly pursue joint manufacturing to utilise technological expertise of South Korea. South Korea is also exploring opportunities of making best use of India's geographical proximities with the Middle East and use it as a leverage to establish a manufacturing hub here with an eye on exporting to the Arab countries. They are also likely to look to utilise India's software prowess and explore avenues of infrastructure development here. A ballpark figure of USD 10 billion is what PM Modi will be hoping to attract from South Korea for India's infrastructure projects.

On the PM's agenda is signing of several agreements on important topics like Double Taxation Avoidance Convention, shipping, transport, highways, electric power development and other areas.

India will also look to tap South Korea's shipbuilding prowess, as evident from PM Modi's plans of visiting a shipyard in Ulsan. With India looking to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from abroad, also on the cards will be the proposal for buying from Korean makers a vessel specifically for LNG transport. India is also likely to explore the possibilities of inviting major shipbuilders to setting up bases in India.

A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries has been in effect since January 2010. But South Korea has expressed the need for upgrading the agreement to include some more products like machinery and certain steel products.

India on the other hand has raised the issue of rising trade deficit between the two countries which spiked from USD 5.1 billion in 2009-10 to USD 8.27 billion in 2013-14. Indian exporters are wary of tinkering with the trade pact and PM Modi's delegation will be keen to keep their interests in mind.

PM Modi's stress on skill development among Indian youth may also find a willing partner in South Korea. Seoul can share its knowledge and expertise employed in its manufacturing industries with India. Emulating South Korea's focus on technical and vocational training is something that could do worlds of good as far as solving the crisis of unemployment in India is concerned. Similarly, exploration of more avenues of cooperation on the lines of technical schools being set-up in India by Korean major Samsung could be focussed upon.

The Modi Mantra

Just like PM Modi's Japan tour yielded the extremely ambitious plan to develop Varanasi into a 'smart city' on the lines of Kyoto, there is something similar on the cards in South Korea as well. The Prime Minister has expressed his pain at witnessing the sad state of rivers in India. His resolve to cleaning the Ganga river that flows through his Parliamentary constituency – Varanasi – is well-known. In South Korean capital Seoul, the Prime Minister will visit the Cheonggye stream to learn about water purification system. India will look to adopt these methods to revive the dying rivers here.

PM Modi is certain to emphasise on expanding cultural exchanges and people-to-people interaction between the two countries and engage with Koreans in his own novel ways.

Like PM Modi celebrated Chinese scholar Hieun Tsang's Indian connection while in China, it will not come as a surprise if he also points out to Hyecho's legacy. Hyecho, a famous Korean Buddhist monk had visited India to familiarise himself with language and cultures of Buddha's land. His journeys have been logged in the form of "Wang ocheonchukguk jeon" (An Account of Travel To The Five Indian Kingdoms). Another often-mentioned (albeit unconfirmed) link between the two countries is the tale of Queen Suro (Princess Heo Hwang-ok), who, according to Samguk Yusa, travelled from Ayodhya to Korea in 48AD.

Defence ties

Indian military has faced major procurement issues and suffered due to delays in foreign purchases being delivered and lack of domestically produced weapons. South Korea is renowned in the global arms market for its missile technology and naval combat systems. Seoul's robust arms output is exactly what New Delhi needs at the moment.

Ahead of Modi's visit, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had visited Seoul in April and held extensive discussions on multiple facets of the bilateral defence relationship between the two countries and regional and global issues of mutual interest. PM Modi's visit is likely to further widen the scope of defence relationship between India and RoK and find ways to upgrade the existing ties.

South Korea is known as a reliable marine equipment supplier and Indian delegation alongwith Parrikar was looking to explore avenues of sourcing shipping equipments, and collaborate over artillery systems, combat management and engineering systems for land and marine forces.

Korea will also look to end India's search for modernised military supplies, modern missiles and land and naval weapon systems for its armed forces. Joint production of defence equipments and investment by South Korean companies in the Indian market and defence sector is likely to feature high on PM Modi's agenda.

The Indo-RoK ties will gain a major boost with PM Modi's visit and the two nations will hope that the ‘Strategic Partnership’ acquires greater momentum and eventually realises its full potential in the following period.

Prime Minister Modi has been an apostle of India’s aim to promote peace and democracy around the world. And while trade and dialogue will be mutually beneficial, strong co-operation between the two countries will also help establish peace and prosperity in both the Indian sub-continent and in the Korean peninsula.

The Prime Minister returns to Delhi from Seoul on May 19.