South Korea has reaffirmed its commitment to deepening ties with India across strategic sectors including shipbuilding, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, and industrial collaboration. Ambassador Lee Seong-ho described the bilateral relationship as one between 'ideal natural partners' in an increasingly fragile global order.
Jaishankar's Visit Builds on April Summit Commitments
Speaking to ANI on Monday, Ambassador Lee said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's recent visit to Seoul aimed to carry forward commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during the latter's visit to India in April. 'Jaishankar was in Seoul last week to have a meeting with his counterpart, Korean Foreign Minister Cho. The main purpose of his visit was to follow up on the agreement and the commitments made by both leaders during my presidential visit to India in April,' Lee stated.
The Ambassador noted that Jaishankar's participation at the Jeju Peace Forum—often seen as South Korea's equivalent of India's Raisina Dialogue—added strategic depth to the visit. 'He gave a very impassioned speech on the global order and the roles that Korea and India might play in this changing global order,' Lee said, describing the visit as 'very fruitful.'
Review of Cooperation Across Multiple Sectors
According to Lee, the two foreign ministers reviewed cooperation across shipbuilding, semiconductors, industrial collaboration, and people-to-people exchanges, reaffirming their commitment to fully realise the leadership vision in the coming years. The discussions provided an opportunity to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, according to a Ministry of External Affairs press release.
Emerging Technologies Become Pillars of Future Cooperation
On emerging technologies, Lee said artificial intelligence, batteries, and critical minerals have become major pillars of future cooperation as both nations seek to reduce strategic dependencies and strengthen supply chain resilience. 'Those are the emerging critical technologies that are the area of mutual interest for both our countries,' he said, adding that both sides are now looking at AI collaboration 'more intensely.'
He also underlined the growing significance of critical minerals, saying both countries have strong potential to build cooperation in securing strategic resources vital for clean energy and advanced manufacturing.
'Ideal Natural Partners' in a Fragile Global Order
Describing the broader India-South Korea partnership, Lee said the relationship is uniquely positioned because of the absence of historical or political baggage. 'Both Korea and India are ideal natural partners for each other, especially in these very fragile, rapidly changing global dynamics,' he said.
He pointed to strong economic complementarity between the two countries—India's scale, talent pool, and IT strength paired with South Korea's manufacturing expertise and technological know-how. 'India has the scale, size, talent pool, IT infrastructure... whereas Korea has the manufacturing skill and know-how to complement India's Make in India vision,' he said.
Jaishankar's Official Visit and Next Steps
EAM Jaishankar paid an official visit to the Republic of Korea from June 24 to June 25. During the visit, he held bilateral talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun in Seoul. EAM also invited Foreign Minister Cho Hyun to visit India for the next meeting of the India-ROK Joint Commission at a mutually convenient date.
