Jaishankar in Seoul: Unleashing the Untapped Potential of India–South Korea Relations
- Joydeep Chakraborty
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Consequential partnerships today are forged not between equals in size, but between equals in ambition. India and South Korea have already built the strategic case for closer cooperation. The next chapter will be written through factories built, technologies co-developed, and supply chains made more resilient.
The greatest strategic vulnerability is economic dependence disguised as efficiency. For decades, globalisation rewarded the abundance of foreign-based factories, technologies and supply chains. Today, that has become a source of geopolitical risk. Countries are no longer asking who manufactures the cheapest products, but who can be trusted to manufacture them at all.
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar's June 2026 visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) stands out because beneath the routine diplomatic meetings lies a larger shift in India's strategic thinking. New Delhi is subtly replacing the diplomacy of balancing powers with the diplomacy of multiplying partnerships. In the fragmented world that we live in, influence belongs not merely to the largest economies but to those capable of building resilient networks of trusted collaborators.
This visit followed President Lee Jae-myung's visit to India and the adoption of the India–RoK Joint Strategic Vision (2026–2030). Together, these developments signal a transition from symbolism to delivery.
Grasping a New Industrial Reality
The India–South Korea partnership is often described through diplomatic language, but its strongest evidence is found on factory floors rather than conference tables.
When Hyundai entered India in 1996, few imagined it would become one of the country's largest automobile manufacturers and exporters. Nearly three decades later, its Tamil Nadu operations have generated thousands of jobs, strengthened local supplier ecosystems and demonstrated how foreign investment can accelerate industrial capability rather than simply expand market access.
A similar moment arrived in 2018 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then South Korean President Moon Jae-in inaugurated Samsung's Noida manufacturing facility, then the world's largest mobile-phone factory. Long before "friend-shoring" and supply-chain resilience became popular policy terms, that project illustrated what genuine strategic cooperation looks like. This was a harbinger of a new partnership: Korean technology combining with India's manufacturing ambitions to serve global markets.
More than 600 South Korean companies now operate across India in automobiles, electronics, steel, logistics and advanced manufacturing. Yet bilateral trade remains stuck at roughly USD 27–30 billion annually, surprisingly modest for the world's fifth- and twelfth-largest economies. The gap between existing potential and realised outcomes remains one of the defining characteristics of the relationship.
Partners in an Era of Strategic Competition
Consequential partnerships today are forged not between equals in size, but between equals in ambition. That convergence was evident throughout Dr Jaishankar's discussions with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and National Security Director Wi Sung-lac, where cooperation extended well beyond trade to defence, shipbuilding, clean energy, emerging technologies, education and Indo-Pacific security.
Presently, India seeks to raise manufacturing's contribution to GDP to 25 percent while expanding its role in global value chains. South Korea possesses precisely the industrial strengths India requires. Namely, globally competitive semiconductor capabilities, advanced battery technologies, precision manufacturing and one of the world's most sophisticated innovation ecosystems.
India's semiconductor mission alone has committed incentives worth INR 76,000 crore. Without access to trusted technology partners, however, financial incentives alone cannot build a globally competitive semiconductor ecosystem. Korean firms possess decades of expertise that India cannot afford to replicate from scratch.
Shipbuilding presents another equally strategic opportunity. South Korea commands nearly 40 percent of the global commercial shipbuilding market, making it the undisputed global leader. As India pursues its Maritime Vision 2047, Korean expertise can help modernise commercial shipyards, strengthen naval production and enhance maritime logistics.
It is also evident that nearly 60 percent of global maritime trade passes through the Indo-Pacific, making secure sea lanes an economic necessity rather than a naval aspiration. Every disruption in these waters reverberates through factories, ports and consumers across Asia.
Jaishankar's Jeju Doctrine
The broader significance of the visit emerged most clearly during Dr Jaishankar's keynote address at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity. Rather than portraying global fragmentation as an inevitable crisis, he argued that a more distributed international order could reduce excessive concentrations of power while creating fresh opportunities for emerging economies. But such an outcome would require countries to build stronger partnerships before geopolitical rivalries harden into permanent divisions.
His diagnosis reflected today's realities. Supply chains have become strategic assets. Technology functions as an instrument of statecraft. Financial systems are frequently deployed for geopolitical leverage. Even market access is no longer determined solely by economic competitiveness.
During his monologue, Dr Jaishankar advocated resilient supply chains, diversified production networks, stronger middle-power cooperation, greater opportunities for the Global South, adherence to international law, including UNCLOS, and meaningful reform of multilateral institutions. His message was neither ideological nor rhetorical. It was an argument for practical resilience in a world where interdependence has become rather conditional.
Beyond China, Beyond Symbolism
One mistake would be to interpret closer India–South Korea cooperation solely through the prism of China. The real story of the twenty-first century is not the rivalry between great powers, but the determination of middle powers to ensure they never again become collateral in someone else's contest. India's engagement with South Korea fits comfortably within that larger strategy. Alongside Japan, Australia, ASEAN partners and European democracies, Seoul represents another technologically advanced partner capable of strengthening India's economic resilience without compromising its strategic autonomy.
Defence cooperation illustrates this approach particularly well. South Korea has emerged as one of the world's top ten defence exporters, supplying advanced artillery systems, aircraft, naval platforms and armoured vehicles across multiple regions. As India accelerates defence indigenisation, Korean partnerships offer opportunities for co-development, co-production and technology transfer while reducing dependence on traditional suppliers. Here, the objective is diversification, not alignment.
Taking the Lead
If the relationship has one persistent weakness, it is implementation. India and South Korea have produced ambitious vision documents before. Negotiations to upgrade the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement have moved slowly, and investment flows remain below expectations. Several proposed industrial collaborations have taken longer than anticipated to materialise.
Therefore, the next phase should focus less on announcing new frameworks and more on delivering measurable outcomes. Semiconductor manufacturing, defence co-production, clean-energy investments, shipbuilding partnerships, digital innovation, research collaboration and academic exchanges all possess institutional support. We need faster execution, sustained political attention and greater administrative urgency.
India and South Korea already possess the ingredients of one of Asia's most consequential strategic partnerships. Shared democratic values, complementary economies, technological strengths and converging security interests have created a rare alignment of opportunity.
India and South Korea have already built the strategic case for closer cooperation. The next chapter will be written not through new vision documents, but through factories built, technologies co-developed, and supply chains made more resilient.