Oct 12, 2010

India South Korea Defence Cooperation

The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony also visited South Korea, describing his two day visit to South Korea as ‘fruitful’. India and South Korea signed two landmark Memoranda of Understanding to give a huge boost to the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. The two MoUs were signed at the end of nearly ninety minutes of  intensive discussions, marked by warmth, between the delegations of the two countries, led by their Defence Ministers, Mr AK Antony and Mr Kim Tae-young in Seoul. This was the first ever visit of a Defence Minister of India to South Korea.

The first MoU signed by Mr Antony and Mr Kim  envisages exchange of defence related experience and information, mutual exchange of visits by military personnel and experts including civilian staff associated with defence services, military education and training and conduct of military exercises, exchange of visits of ships and aircraft, as jointly decided between the two countries. The MoU further envisages cooperation in humanitarian assistance and international peace keeping activities. The MoU will remain valid for a period of five years with provision for its extension by five more years.

            The Second MoU  was signed by the Chief Controller of Research and Development of DRDO, Dr Prahlada and Vice Commissioner, Defence Acquisition and Procurement Agency (DAPA) of South Korea, Mr Kwon Oh Bong. To be operational under the overarching umbrella of India- South Korea Defence Agreement, the MoU aims at identifying futuristic defence technology areas of mutual interest and pursuing R&D works in both the countries. It also envisages co- development and co-production of defence products with Indian industry through DRDO. There will be joint IPR on all the products developed through this mechanism. Some areas of immediate interest e.g., marine systems, electronics and intelligent systems have been identified as priority tasks.

            Speaking at the meeting, Mr Antony said  New Delhi will be happy to see the defence industry relationship to be more than a buyer-seller relationship and its further evolution into Transfer of Technology, joint production and joint R&D etc. He hoped that ‘his visit will start a new chapter in our already close relationship’. Mr Kim said the two MoUs signed today will provide a win-win scenario for the two countries in a number of areas. The talks covered a wide range of security issues- both regional and global.[Based on MOD India Press Release].

India South Korea defence cooperation is a new initiative and has received greater impetus for which the China factor in India’s security calculus is possibly responsible. There is thus a drive to have partnerships with countries who are feeling the heat from Beijing and South Korea with sinking of a ship by a North Korean torpedo appears to New Delhi a good partner in containing or at least balancing China. The visit of North Korean President to Beijing indicates that China and North Korea remain bound by a very close relationship and therefore South Korea is also seeking leverages for which India appears quite well placed.

OCT 2010