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India shares cordial relations with South Korea since 1962. However, the presence of South Korean President Lee Myung –bak, as the Chief Guest for the January 26 Republic Day celebrations will further strengthen the ties between the two nations.
Looking back, it was in 1973 that India established Ambassador level relations with South Korea. Since then ties between both countries have been growing at a gradual pace. However, with liberalization of Indian economy in 1991, India opened its doors to MNCs, and Korean companies were the first to venture into the Indian markets. Very soon Korean companies like LG, Samsung, Daewoo and Hyundai have made their presence felt in a major way in India. The significant success of these companies has seen large number of companies waiting to embark into the Indian markets.
The subsequent years have witnessed more broad-based relations between both the nations. Rapidly growing trade and investment flow apparently form the basis of bilateral cooperation between the two nations.
The visit by an Indian President Abdul Kalam to South Korea in 2006 gave further boost to the trade relation between the two states. It was first-ever visit by an Indian President to the Republic of Korea which saw signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
Trade
The two-way trade relations between two countries gathered momentum in the recent years. Despite the hullabaloo around recession globally, the trade between the two nations have been growing from strength to strength. In the year 2008, bilateral trade grew by almost 39 percent. The same year, Korean imports clocked a growth of almost 42 percent, which were recorded at US$ 6.5 billion.
India’s major Exports to Korea: Naphtha (US$3.88 billion worth), iron and steel, oil seeds residue and cattle feed. Even AC generators, photo-sensitive semi-conductors and chemical products etc have been gradually catching the fancy of the Koreans.
India’s major imports from Korea: Auto parts including engines, ships/tankers, iron and steel products, fertilizers, footwear, ships and chemicals.
Republic of Korea exports grew at 36% reaching a total amount of US$8.9 billion. In 2001, the total trade stood at US$2.52 billion, seven years later it has increased almost 6 times and as per ROK estimates stands at US$15.5 billion. However, it was during the last two years the trade graph has shown a steep upward curve i.e. over 100 percent.
Tourism and Cultural ties
A tourism agreement was signed between India and South Korea in 1993, in an attempt to give a fresh impetus to tourism and cultural exchanges between both the countries. In fact number of festival and cultural events has been organized in South Korea in an endeavor to educate the masses about India’s deep rooted cultural traditions. A 55 strong Indian contingent of performing arts had recently visited South Korea to participate in the 3rd Delphic Games.
Education
The number of Indian students enrolling in Korean Universities is on the rise. For that matter even Korean students seem interested in coming to India and pursue further education in premier technical institutions like IITs. Jawaharal Nehru University and Delhi University have even launched special Korean Studies and Korean Language courses. Likewise, two South Korean Universities have also come up with Indian Studies Department.
Non-Resident Indians in South Korea
There are around 6000 non-resident Indians in South Korea. They include businessmen, IT professionals, scientists, research fellows, students and workers. There are about 150 businessmen dealing mainly in textiles, over 1000 IT professionals and engineers, 600 hundred scientists/post doctoral research scholars.
USP of South Korea
• Refereed to as the most innovative country in the world with largest number of patents attached to its name.
• World’s largest maker of LCD, plasma display, OLED and CRT displays.
• World’s largest shipbuilder
• Among the top countries when it comes to Human Development Index
• World’s largest conglomerate- Samsung Group
• World’s largest Electronics Company – Samsung Electronics
• Fourth largest automaker – Hyundai Kia Automotive group
• Second and Third Largest cellphone makers- LG and Samsung
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