EVENTS

South Korean politics took a surprising turn on the night of 3 December 2024, when former President Yoon Suk-yeol unexpectedly declared martial law in the country. A country which is known for its economic and technological prowess, suddenly looked like a polity susceptible to authoritarianism, as witnessed in the pre-1987 era. Fortuitously, the martial law was reversed within a few hours through the intervention of the National Assembly and afterwards, through a democratic process, a new leader from the Democratic Party – Lee Jae-myung – got elected as the President of South Korea on 4 June 2025. While this victory may appear to have normalized the immediate crisis, the fault lines of South Korean politics, nature of political institutions and divided public opinions are still important issues which require a comprehensive understanding in the context of slow economic growth and complicated regional equations in East Asia.

Speaker

Sandip Kumar Mishra is a Professor in Korean Studies at the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He is also an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), New Delhi and a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi. He obtained his doctoral degree in Korean Studies and International Relations from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He studied Korean Language at Yonsei University and Sogang University. He has published several research articles and book chapters, and features in newspapers such as Korea Times, The Tribune, The Indian Express, Financial Express, The Pioneer, Times of India, and The Statesman.

Chair

Amb. Skand Ranjan Tayal is currently the Chairperson of the India - Republic of Korea Friendship Society. After joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1976, Ambassador Tayal served in several Indian Missions including Geneva and Moscow. He was the Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan (2005-08) and the Republic of Korea (2008-11). He also served as the Joint Secretary (Consular, Passport and Visa) in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Chief Passport Officer of India during 1999-2002, during which he introduced far-reaching reforms in the passport issue system, including machine printing of passports and the Tatkal Scheme for fast-track issues. Ambassador Tayal has vast experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy and he is a frequent public speaker on contemporary affairs. He regularly writes for academic journals and The Asian Age.

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