At a time of profound shifts in global geopolitical and geo-economics landscape, Lee Jae Myung, President of the Republic of Korea, paid a highly successful State Visit to India from 19 to 21 April 2026, signaling the dawn of a new phase in the Korea-India Special Strategic Partnership. He was accompanied by one of the largest-ever business delegations comprising over 200 representatives of leading Korean companies, including the CEOs of Samsung, Hyundai, LG and POSCO.
The delegation also included three cabinet Ministers, overseeing key portfolios of Finance & Economy and Science & Technology. The sheer size and distinguished composition of the presidential delegation alone underlines the importance Korea attaches to this crucial partnership with India, one of the most consequential relationships of the 21st century.
The visit took place at a critical juncture in global affairs, when the familiar contours of the global political and economic order are undergoing profound transformation. With supply chains being reconfigured and new economic alignments emerging, fresh avenues for cooperation are opening up.
India’s global stature today is markedly different from what it once was. Its standing as a rising global economic and strategic power continues to grow and its economy is firmly on course to become the world’s third largest economy very soon. At the same time, Korea continues to attract global attention through its K-wave soft power as well as its strengths in supply chains of world’s most critical industries such as semiconductors and shipbuilding.
Taken together, these factors create a strong synergy for expanded cooperation. Simply put, at a time of global flux, the two partners with huge potential for future cooperation have come together to harness their complementarities and convergences and to produce tangible outcomes for their respective peoples and the world at large.
At the summit meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two leaders unveiled the ‘Joint Strategic Vision for the Korea-India Special Strategic Partnership’, outlining an ambitious and action-oriented roadmap to usher in a new era of Korea-India Partnership 2.0 in the coming years. At the luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Modi, both leaders together with leading business CEOS reaffirmed their strong desires to deepen and widen industrial ties. They emphasized the importance of placing Korea’s industrial and technological strengths at the heart of India’s ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives, while also recognising the significant benefits Korean businesses can derive from India’s scale, skilled talent pool, advanced IT ecosystem, and vast market opportunities.
As many as 15 MoUs between the two governments and 20 business MoUs and 14 contracts were concluded, underscoring the unprecedented scale of outcomes from the visit. Among the key highlights was POSCO’s joint venture with JSW Steel to set up a 6 MMT integrated steel plant in Odisha. These agreements span a wide and strategic range of sectors, including trade, industry, technology, science, culture, sports, and people-to-people exchanges. The four major takeaways from the President Lee’s visit can be summed up as follows:
First, under the dynamic stewardship and enthusiastic backing of both leaders, the two countries are set to usher in the second wave of Korean investment in India. While the first wave was led by automotive and electronics giants such as Hyundai, Samsung, and LG, which have now become household names across the country, the second phase is set to expand into new and strategic sectors, including shipbuilding, semiconductors, manufacturing and MSMES.
In this context, both leaders announced an ambitious and comprehensive maritime partnership vision aimed at embedding Korea’s shipbuilding expertise into India’s maritime future. In parallel, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), concluded in 2010, will be upgraded to best serve businesses in a rapidly evolving global economic landscape, by incorporating new focus areas including, digital trade, supply chain collaboration and the green economy. A new Ministerial Industrial Cooperation Committee has been established to facilitate and strengthen expanded industrial cooperation, ensuring mutual and strategic benefits for both sides.
Second, both governments are committed to ensuring that expanded industrial ties will lead to closer cooperation in strategic sectors, areas typically reserved for trusted strategic partners, including nuclear energy, space, artificial intelligence, defence, and green technologies. Building on successful precedents such as the K-9 howitzer project, Korea and India, by leveraging their complementary strengths, can emerge as joint leaders in these critical and emerging domains that will shape and define the future.
Third, both sides have agreed to further expand institutionalised high-level exchanges and strengthen people-to-people ties. Since the inauguration of the new Korean administration in June last year, President Lee and Prime Minister Modi have met twice on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Canada and the G20 Summit in South Africa. In the first three months of this year alone, we have welcomed more than a dozen high-level Korean delegations to Delhi, including those led by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and the Deputy Prime Minister. These sustained high-level engagements naturally culminated in this week’s Presidential State Visit.
As part of the outcomes of the summit, both sides agreed to exchange at least five more ministerial visits before the end of this year, including the visit of India’s Defence Minister to Korea next month. Beyond official engagements, both sides have also committed to deepening academic cooperation, expanding student exchanges and further promoting cultural linkages and tourism. Thanks to the enhanced collaboration between two financial authorities, India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will be made interoperable in Korea, facilitating ease of travel and strengthen people-to-people connections.
Finally, both sides have decided to broaden cooperation at the regional and global levels. Both countries share vibrant democracies, dynamic market economies, respect for human rights and a firm belief in peaceful coexistence. They also face common global challenges, including terrorism, climate change, maritime piracy, and other transnational threats. In addressing these challenges, the two sides will draw on their shared experiences and complementary strengths to work together for a more peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region and the world.
Korea and India established diplomatic ties in 1973. In a little over five decades, bilateral relations have blossomed from modest beginnings into a robust Special Strategic Partnership With the unveiling of the Joint Strategic Vision for the Korea-India Special Strategic Partnership during the State Visit and with a renewed political will and a shared commitment across all stakeholders to unlocking the full potential of bilateral ties. Korea and India are now stepping into Partnership 2.0, an ambitious new phase to deepen, broaden and diversify cooperation, for the mutual benefit of the two countries, the region and indeed the world.
(The writer is Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to India. Views are personal.)
Lee Seong -Ho
