South Korean President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook at Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi. (AFP ... Read More

NEW DELHI: As South Korean President Moon Jae-in landed in India on Sunday night, the two countries aim to converge the Indian 'Act East Policy' with the Korean 'Southern Policy'.

In an exclusive written interview with TOI, Moon said, “India and Korea are expanding the horizon of cooperation with countries in the region through the Act East Policy and the New Southern Policy, respectively.”

One of the ways to achieve this, he said, was for both countries to join forces to work towards industrial revolution 4.0. “It is important that our two countries are forming the Korea-India Future Vision Strategy Group this time. Joint research and exchanges of talented people will likely be expanded in the areas of ICT, software, biotech, cyber security, healthcare, energy as well as future cars and space development,” he said.

Moon's visit comes at a time when India is pushing forward with its Indo-Pacific policy and South Korea is trying to bring North Korea on board to work out some kind of a peace deal in the Korean peninsula. Moon said, “The task given to us is to fully implement the agreements made at the inter-Korean summits and the North Korea-US summit as soon as possible.”

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His first visit to India after becoming president, Moon said he had sent a special envoy to engage the Indian government soon after his election. His visit comes four years after his predecessor Park Guen-hye visited in January 2014. PM Narendra Modi and Moon will inaugurate a new Samsung manufacturing unit in Noida on Monday.

India's interests with Korea are primarily economic, with a growing interest to increase Korean investment in India, particularly in the area of large manufacturing like ship-building. India and Korea signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement but after an initial burst of growth, this has not really taken the bilateral relationship further. India also signed a civil nuclear agreement with Korea, which is yet to be operationalised.

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“There are limitless possibilities for economic cooperation between our two countries. India is equipped with cutting-edge science and technology as well as excellent human resources. It also has industrial production capabilities and a vast market. If these are combined with Korea's applied technologies, experience and capital, it will be possible to expedite complementary and mutually beneficial economic cooperation. I look forward to more expanded cooperation in such fields as manufacturing, infrastructure and state-of-the-art industries,” Moon said.

Moon's Southern Policy, which drives his engagement with India, is also intended to build new relationships to offset dependence on some of the old ones, like the US. “The importance of the Indo-Pacific region, covering both Korea and India, is increasing day by day, and opportunities and challenges are rising at the same time,” Moon said.

The India-Korea relationship can be traced back almost 2,000 years, to the time “after King Kim Suro of Korea's ancient Gaya kingdom married a princess from the Indian kingdom of Ayuta, who later became Queen Heo”. Ayuta, which is modern Ayodhya, is therefore special to Korea, and among other things, the Korean government plans to build a special park in Ayodhya to remember their ancient queen, the Indian princess.

