Forging a strategic partnership with India beyond trade
Anshuman Tripathi
President Lee Jae Myung’s recent visit to India has provided a timely political impetus to relations between Seoul and New Delhi. The signing of 15 memoranda of understanding underscores a mutual commitment to deepen ties. While the summit yielded welcome commercial gains, an exclusively economic focus risks missing the larger picture. In an era of geopolitical volatility, Seoul must not stop at transactional deals. Seoul should seize the opportunity to build a broader strategic partnership with India, which would help mitigate its acute vulnerabilities in maritime security, supply chains, and technological resilience.
Historically, South Korea and India share deep cultural and philosophical affinities. In modern times, however, Seoul has largely viewed India through a commercial lens — as a large and rapidly growing consumer market. Lee’s remark in New Delhi that “India is no longer just a consumer market, but a key country leading global production and supply chains” signals an important pivot. India, for its part, sees South Korea as a vital source of investment, advanced technology and industrial expertise in shipbuilding, steel, semiconductors and defense. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi captured this complementarity when he declared that “from chips to ships, from talent to technology, and from environment to energy… Korea stands as an important partner” in India’s “Viksit Bharat” vision of becoming a developed industrial nation by 2047.
Choe Won-gi
The two sides have set an ambitious target to double bilateral trade from $27 billion to $50 billion by 2030, despite India’s concerns over the trade imbalance. A landmark shipbuilding agreement highlights the potential for concrete wins. Yet, the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict has exposed oil-dependent regional countries’ strategic vulnerabilities with painful clarity. In particular, disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have underscored South Korea’s heavy dependence on vulnerable maritime routes for imports and exports. Seoul lacks the independent capacity to secure its far-flung sea lanes and supply chains. As tensions in Indo-Pacific rise, similar disruptions in the South China Sea or Taiwan Strait are plausible. India, with significant assets in the Indian Ocean, is uniquely positioned to help Seoul address these challenges.
A forward-looking partnership should therefore extend beyond commerce into defense, maritime security, and critical technologies. South Korea has long pursued an indigenous aircraft carrier capability and tweaked the carrier requirements accordingly over time. India, by contrast, has operated aircraft carriers since independence and now possesses two, including one that’s indigenously built. Indian navy possesses deep institutional knowledge of carrier battle groups and associated operations. Collaboration on carrier development and doctrine could accelerate timelines, reduce costs, and meaningfully strengthen Seoul’s maritime posture—advancing South Korea’s ability to protect vital sea lanes of communication.
Space offers another domain of high strategic value. India’s proven record in satellite launch vehicles, its indigenous navigation system, and space-grade semiconductors make it an attractive partner. Very few nations can match India’s experience in proven space grade semiconductors with successful missions to Mars and the Moon. Joint efforts could enhance South Korea’s space capabilities while building redundancy in critical supply chains. The recent U.S.-Iran conflict also highlighted the limitations of the Pax Silica alliance and the need to collectively mitigate against physical attacks on fabs and AI datacenters. Developing complementary manufacturing and supply chain resilience with India — including in semiconductor fabs, data infrastructure and AI-related systems — would provide essential strategic depth.
Even in traditional strengths such as steel, mutual benefits abound. India is the world’s second-largest steel producer, while South Korea has decades of experience in waste plastic ingestion into steel making. India is also the second largest producer of plastic waste, by volume. Building on the envisaged India-ROK Annual Steel Dialogue, the two countries could cooperate on waste plastic procurement and advanced segregation technologies, turning an environmental challenge into an industrial advantage.
These examples illustrate a broader truth: South Korea and India possess complementary strengths across high-technology and strategic sectors. From semiconductors to aircraft carriers and space systems, synergistic collaboration can future-proof supply chains and accelerate innovation for both nations.
President Lee’s visit has opened a promising window. Seoul should now undertake bolder strategic imaginations that go well beyond trade targets. A multifaceted partnership with India — joint naval exercises, technology co-developments, and coordinated approaches to maritime domain awareness — would not only mitigate South Korea’s vulnerabilities in an unstable world but also position both democracies as pillars of stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.
By thinking beyond immediate commercial gains and embracing a long-term strategic vision, South Korea can transform its relationship with India from a promising economic corridor into a vital strategic anchor. The opportunity is ripe; the risks of complacency are clear.
Anshuman Tripathi is former member of National Security Advisory Board of India and Choe Won-gi is professor of Indo-Pacific Studies at Korea National Diplomatic Academy.