EVENTS

The 3-day State visit of the President of Republic of Korea Lee Jae Myung on 19-21 April 2026, is a significant move to reinvigorate the India-ROK ‘Special Strategic Partnership’ forged in 2015 and now in its second decade. India-ROK relations are being transformed into “a futuristic partnership”. This evolution is reflected in the ‘Joint Strategic Vision for India-ROK Special Strategic Partnership (2026-30) adopted during this visit. The leaders of the two countries set an ambitious target of raising bilateral trade to $50 Billion by 2030 from the current level of $27 Billion. Another important decision is to launch an ‘India-ROK Economic Security Dialogue’ aimed at enhancing resilience in supply chains, promoting market diversification and advancing cooperation in cutting-edge technologies. Both sides agreed to a long-standing Korean demand for a rapid upgradation of the India-ROK Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in 2010. India’s major concern is the growing imbalance in the already large trade deficit with Korea. On geo-political matters there is similarity in the two countries’ views on an Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law. In this context India welcomed ROK joining the ‘Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative’. To boost already sound cultural links, the year 2028-29 will be commemorated as the Year of India-ROK Friendship’ through a series of cultural activities. For India, ROK is a valuable partner in the journey towards ‘Viksit Bharat’ in 2047 where the Korean corporations would have an important role in implementing India’s strategy of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. The Modi-Lee Summit marks a consensus on strengthening the focus on the India-ROK economic partnership.

Panellists

Vyjayanti Raghavan was Professor of Korean Language and Culture at the Centre for Korean Studies, JNU till 2022. She was also the Chairperson of the Centre from 2013-15, and 2017-19. She has done her Masters in Korean History from Seoul National University, and her Ph.D in International Relations from JNU. She played a major role in setting up the Centre for Korean Studies in JNU, for which she was awarded by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea in 2015. Her most recent publication is Northeast Asia and South Asia: The Impact of Xi Jinping and Donald Trump (KW Publishers, 2024). Some of her other publications are Colonization: A Comparative Study of India and Korea (co-edited); Sino-Indian and Sino-South Korean Relations: Compulsions, Comparisons and Contrasts (Co-authored); Comparative Security Dynamics in North East Asia and South Asia (Co-authored). Prof. Raghavan is a member of various academic boards and is on the advisory board of the Kim Dae Jung Foundation. She is a Trustee of The Book Review Literary Trust and an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies.

Cho Choong Jae is a prominent economist and regional expert on South Asia, currently serving as the Director of the Delhi Office for the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP). He holds the position of Deputy President at KIEP and is in charge of the Center for Area Studies. He is a key figure in bilateral dialogues, such as the India-ROK 2+2 Dialogue, focusing on issues like supply chain resilience and the Indo-Pacific strategy. Dr. Cho serves as an advisor to the Presidential Committee on New Southern Policy and the Parliamentary Diplomacy Forum on South Asia. He is the Vice President of the Korean Association of Indian Social Science Research (KAISSR) and a board member of the Institute of Indian Studies Korea (IISK). He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) and was a visiting scholar at Claremont Graduate University in the USA. His research focuses on the Indian economy, economic cooperation between Korea and India (including the CEPA agreement), and South Asian regional strategy.

Sandip Mishra is a Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. Earlier, he worked at the University of Delhi for more than twelve years. He is also Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Delhi and Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi. He is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Sejong Institute and Global Fellow at the Ewha Woman’s University. He obtained his M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from the JNU. He studied Korean Language in Korea in 2006 and 2010 at Yonsei University and Sogang University. He has been Visiting Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Korea National Defense University, Sejong Institute, Northeast Asia History Foundation, Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum, Institute for Far East Studies, Northeast Asia History Foundation, Kyungnam University, and Korean Institute for International Economic Policy.

Chair

Amb. Skand Tayal Ambassador (Retd) Skand Ranjan Tayal is a graduate of Allahabad University and has a Post-Graduate Degree in Chemistry from the prestigious IIT, Kanpur. After joining the Indian Foreign Service (1976), Ambassador Tayal served in Indian Missions in Sofia, Warsaw, Geneva and Moscow. He was India’s Consul General in Johannesburg (1996-98) and Houston (2002-05), and Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan (2005-08). He was Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea during 2008-11. Amb.Tayal was on the Board of Hindustan Shipyard Limited (Vizag) and MMTC Limited as an independent director during 2013-16 and is Chairperson of the India-Republic of Korea Friendship Society. He was also Chairman of the Governing Board of Dyal Singh College in New Delhi during 2013-16. He was a Visiting professor in the Delhi University during 2013-16. Ambassador Tayal has authored India and Republic of Korea: Engaged Democracies, which was released in December 2013 by the Hon’ble External Affairs Minister of India.

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