South Korean President Moon Jae-in Arrives in India on Maiden Visit

New Delhi: South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in India on Sunday evening for a three-day visit. This is his maiden visit to the country after he became President last year.

News18 was the first to report in June about Jae-in’s maiden July visit. Moon, accompanied by wife Kim Jung-sook, was received by Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs General (retd) VK Singh.

The South Korean President is leading a delegation comprising senior members of his cabinet, officials as well as industry captains. The ministry of external affairs said it expects the visit to open new avenues for expansion of partnership, particularly in the economic domain.

“For us, ROK is a valued economic partner. Our bilateral trade last year surpassed USD 20 billion and investments are rising. Korean brands are already household names in India. ROK is also partnering in many of our flagship projects like ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Start-Up India’ etc. A financing arrangement of USD 10 billion has been set by the ROK side for infrastructure development in India. We have set up a ‘Korea Plus’ cell within Invest India to fast-track Korean investments in India,” official spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

The South Korean president will call on President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. A few agreements are also expected to be signed. Jae-in will also visit a Samsung plant in Noida along with Modi.

“As you are aware, Prime Minister Modi had visited ROK in May 2015. The visit had witnessed elevation of our relations to a ‘Special Strategic Partnership’. Our relationship has since expanded in several dimensions. For us, a strong partnership with ROK is a logical extension of our ‘Act East Policy’,” MEA said, adding that defence and security cooperation had steadily grown.

The visit comes two months after a meeting between minister of state for external affairs General VK Singh and North Korean officials in Pyongyang two months ago. In May, General VK Singh held discussions on a host of issues with Kim Yong Dae, vice-president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly; Ri Yong Ho, foreign minister; Pak Chun Nam, minister of culture; and Choe Hui Chol, vice foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Topics discussed included political, regional, economic, educational and cultural cooperation between the two countries.

Singh’s visit was preceded by the historic diplomatic breakthrough earlier last month when Jae-in and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un signed a peace treaty to remove nuclear weapons from their backyards.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had, in her recent annual press conference, said that while India did not intend to play the role of a mediator between the US and North Korea, it would continue to nurture its democratic ties with the former.