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India | South Korea |
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Diplomatic mission | |
Embassy of India, Seoul | Embassy of South Korea, New Delhi |
India and the Republic of Korea (ROK) relations are the bilateral relations between The Republic of India and The Republic of Korea. Formal establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries occurred in the 10 December 1973. Since then, several trade agreements have been reached, such as the Agreement on Trade Promotion and Economic and Technological Co-operation in 1974, the Agreement on Co-operation in Science & Technology in 1976, the Convention on Double Taxation Avoidance in 1985, and the Bilateral Investment Promotion/Protection Agreement in 1996.
Trade between the two nations has increased greatly, from $530 million during the fiscal year of 1992–1993, to billion during 2006–2007. [1] It further increased to US$17.6 billion in the year 2013.
India–South Korea relations have advanced greatly in recent years, spurred by united interests, mutual goodwill and high-level exchanges. South Korea is currently the fifth largest source of investment in India. [2] Korean companies such as LG, Samsung and Hyundai have established manufacturing and service facilities in India, and several Korean construction companies won grants for a portion of the many infrastructural building plans in India, such as the National Highways Development Project. [2] Tata Motors' purchase of Daewoo Commercial Vehicles at the cost of US$102 million highlights India's investments in Korea, which consist mostly of subcontracting. [2]
The Indian Community in Korea is estimated to number 8,000, composing of businesspeople, IT professionals, scientists, research fellows, students and workers. There are about 150 businesspeople dealing mainly in textiles. Over 1,000 IT professionals and software engineers have recently come to Korea to work, including in large conglomerates such as Samsung and LG. There are about 500 scientists and post-doctoral research scholars in Korea. [3]
Indian diamond drilled carnelian beads have been discovered in Korea dating back to proto three kingdoms period (100–669 AD). [5]
Centuries after Buddhism originated in India, Mahayana Buddhism arrived in China through the Silk Route in the 1st century CE via Tibet, then to the Korean peninsula in the 3rd century during the Three Kingdoms period from where it transmitted to Japan. [6] The Samguk yusa records the following three monks as being among the first to bring Buddhist teaching, or Dharma, to Korea: Malananta (late 4th century), an Indian Buddhist monk who brought Buddhism to Baekje in the southern Korean peninsula; Sundo, a Chinese Buddhist monk who brought Buddhism to Goguryeo in northern Korea; and Ado, a Chinese Buddhist monk who brought Buddhism to Silla in central Korea. [7] [8] In Korea, it was adopted as the state religion of three constituent polities of the Three Kingdoms period, first by the Goguryeo (Gaya) in 372 CE, by the Silla in 528 CE, and by the Baekje in 552 CE. [6]
In 526 CE, Korea monk Gyeomik went to India to learn Sanskrit and study the monastic discipline Vinaya, and founded the Gyeyul (Korean : 계율종; Hanja : 戒律宗; RR : Gyeyuljong) branch of Buddhism that specializes in the study of Vinaya which derives directly from the Indian Vinaya School. [9]
A 2005 government survey indicated that about a quarter of South Koreans identified as Buddhist, [10] though including the people outside of the practicing population who are deeply influenced by Buddhism as part of Korean traditions, the number of Buddhists in South Korea is considered to be much larger. [11] Similarly, in officially atheist North Korea, while Buddhists officially account for 4.5% of the population, a much larger number (over 70%) of the population are influenced by Buddhist philosophies and customs. [12] [13]
The fact that people on the Indian subcontinent were familiar with Korea's customs and beliefs is amply testified by the records of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Yijing, who reached India in 673. Yijing writes that Indians regarded Koreans as "worshipers of the rooster". This concept about Koreans was grounded in a legend of the Silla dynasty. [14]
In 2001, a memorial of Heo Hwang-ok from 48 C.E., who is believed to be a princess of Indian origin named Suriratna, was inaugurated by a Korean delegation in the city of Ayodhya, India, which included over a hundred historians and government representatives. [15] In 2016, a Korean delegation proposed to develop the memorial. The proposal was accepted by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. [16] [17] Kim Jung-sook, first lady of South Korea, inaugurated the groundbreaking of the Queen Heo Hwang-ok memorial with chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath in November 2018, which was planned to be completed in 2020. [18] Gimhae, which already has a tomb and pagoda of Queen Heo Hwang-ok, is now constructing 3000 square meters of museum and exhibition hall. [19]
A famous Korean visitor to India was Hyecho, a Korean Buddhist monk from Silla, one of the three Korean kingdoms of the period. On the advice of his Indian teachers in China, he set out for India in 723 CE to acquaint himself with the language and culture of the land of the Buddha. He wrote a travelogue of his journey in Chinese, Wang ocheonchukguk jeon or "An account of travel to the five Indian kingdoms". The work was long thought to be lost. However, a manuscript turned up among the Dunhuang manuscripts during the early 20th century.
A rich merchant from the Ma'bar Sultanate, Abu Ali (P'aehali) 孛哈里 (or 布哈爾 Buhaer), was associated closely with the Ma'bar royal family. After falling out with them, he moved to Yuan dynasty China, married a Korean woman and received a job from the Mongol emperor. His wife was formerly married to Sangha, a Tibetan, [20] and her father was Ch'ae In'gyu during the reign of Chungnyeol of Goryeo, recorded in the Dongguk Tonggam, Goryeosa and Liu Mengyan's Zhong'anji. [21] [22]
During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, South Korean businesses sought to increase access to the global markets and began trade investments with India. [1]
The India–Republic of Korea Joint Commission for bilateral co-operation was established in February 1996, which is chaired by the external affairs minister and the minister of foreign affairs and trade from both countries [23] . So far, six meetings of the Joint Commission have been held, with the last one held in Seoul in June 2010.
In an interview with the Times of India , former Korean president Roh Tae-woo voiced his opinion that co-operation between India's software and Korea's IT industries would bring successful outcomes. [24] The two countries agreed to shift their focus to the revision of the visa policies between the two countries, expansion of trade, and establishment of free trade agreement to encourage further investment between the two countries.
There was a state visit to Korea by Indian president Abdul Kalam in February 2006 that heralded a new phase in India–Korea relations. It led to the launch of a joint task force to conclude a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was signed by Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma at Seoul on 7 August 2009.
Korean President Lee paid a landmark visit to India during Republic Day celebrations on 26 January 2010, when bilateral ties were raised to the level of Strategic Partnership.
An Indian Cultural Centre was established in South Korea in April 2011 and the Festival of India in Korea was inaugurated by Dr. Karan Singh, President of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, on 30 June 2011, to revitalise the cultural relations between the two countries.
Indian president Pratibha Patil embarked on a state visit to Korea from 24 to 27 July 2011, during which the Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation Agreement was signed.
In June 2012, India, a major importer of arms and military hardware planned eight warships from South Korea, but the contract ended in cancellation. [25]
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid an official visit to Seoul from 24 to 27 March 2012, pertaining to Nuclear Security Summits, which led to the deepening of bilateral strategic partnership that was forged during President Lee Myung-bak's state visit to India. An agreement on visa simplification was signed on 25 March 2012 in the presence of the two leaders at the Blue House. A joint statement was also issued during the prime minister's visit.
Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye visited India in 2014.
In July 2018, South Korean president Moon Jae-in and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated Samsung Electronics's smartphone assembly factory in Noida, the largest such factory in the world. [26]
Park Cheol-hee, chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said during the second 2+2 policy dialogue between South Korean and Indian research institutes in Seoul: [27]
"In essence, South Korea and India share a lot of common qualities and external orientations, so the two countries are wonderful partners to work within a world of uncertainty, instability, and fluidity."
Vijay Thakur, director general of the Indian Council of World Affairs, said during the second 2+2 policy dialogue between South Korean and Indian research institutes in Seoul: [27]
"Strengthening the India-South Korea partnership in the region and in Indo-Pacific is of strategic importance for both economies."
Year | Total trade | Growth % | Indian exports to ROK | Growth % | ROK Export to India | Growth% |
2007 | 11,224 | 22.35% | 4,624 | 27.03% | 6,600 | 19.3% |
2008 | 15,558 | 39.00% | 6,581 | 42.32% | 8,977 | 36% |
2009 | 12,155 | -21.88% | 4,142 | -37.06% | 8,013 | -10.7% |
2010 | 17,109 | 40.76% | 5,674 | 36.98% | 11,435 | 42.7% |
2011 | 20,548 | 20.10% | 7,894 | 39% | 12,654 | 10.7% |
2012 | 18,843 | -8.30% | 6,921 | -12.3% | 11,922 | -5.8% |
2013 | 17,568 | -0.07% | 6,183 | -10.7% | 11,385 | -4.5% |
2014 | 18,060 | 2.8% | 5,275 | -14.6% | 12,785 | 12.4% |
2015 | 16,271 | -9.9% | 4,241 | -19.6% | 12,030 | -5.9% |
2016 | 15,785 | -2.9% | 4,189 | -1.2% | 11,596 | -3.6% |
2017 | 20,005 | 26.7% | 4,949 | 18.1% | 15,056 | 29.8% |
2018 | 21,491 | 7.4% | 5,885 | 18.9% | 15,606 | 3.7% |
2019 | 20,663 | -3.87% | 5,566 | -5.40% | 15,097 | -3.29% |
2020 | 16,852 | -22.61% | 4,900 | -12.0% | 11,952 | -20.8% |
Nalanda was a renowned Buddhist mahavihara in ancient and medieval Magadha, eastern India. Widely considered to be among the greatest centres of learning in the ancient world, and often referred to as "the world's first residential university", it was located near the city of Rajagriha, roughly 90 kilometres (56 mi) southeast of Pataliputra. Operating for almost a thousand years from 427 CE until around 1400 CE, Nalanda played a vital role in promoting the patronage of arts and academics during the 5th and 6th century CE, a period that has since been described as the "Golden Age of India" by scholars.
The Gyeyul school, founded by the Korean monk Gyeomik who went to India in 526 CE to learn Sanskrit and study the Vinaya, is the Korean name applied to a branch of Buddhism that specializes in the study and implementation of śīla the "moral discipline" or ""Buddhist ethics". It derives directly from the Indian Vinaya School. Gyeomik went to India from Baekje to study the trepitaka vedatta at "Sangana Vinaya Temple", translated the text into a book called "yulmun" in Korea, and transmitted the Sanskrit from India to Korea. When Baekje, which is one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, the translated text and the Gyeyul monastic order were lost.
Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what its early practitioners saw as inconsistencies within the Mahayana Buddhist traditions that they received from foreign countries. To address this, they developed a new holistic approach to Buddhism that became a distinct form, an approach characteristic of virtually all major Korean thinkers. The resulting variation is called Tongbulgyo, a form that sought to harmonize previously arising disputes among scholars.
Baekje or Paekche was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the highest population of approximately 3,800,000 people, which was much larger than that of Silla and similar to that of Goguryeo.
Silla was a Korean kingdom that existed between 57 BCE – 935 CE and was located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Silla had the lowest population of the three, approximately 850,000 people, significantly smaller than those of Baekje and Goguryeo.
Unified Silla, or Late Silla, is the name often applied to the historical period of the Korean kingdom of Silla after its conquest of Goguryeo in 668 AD, which marked the end of the Three Kingdoms period. In the 7th century, a Silla–Tang alliance conquered Baekje in the Baekje–Tang War. Following the Goguryeo–Tang War and Silla–Tang War in the 7th century, Silla annexed the southern part of Goguryeo, unifying the central and southern regions of the Korean peninsula.
The Dharmaguptaka are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools, depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas. The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism, and their Prātimokṣa are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day, including China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan as well as the Philippines. They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages, along with that of the Theravāda and the Mūlasarvāstivāda.
Mahāyāna Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the Tarim Basin under Kanishka. These contacts transmitted strands of Sarvastivadan and Tamrashatiya Buddhism throughout the Eastern world.
Jajang (590–658) was a monk born Kim Seonjong, into the royal Kim family, in the kingdom of Silla. He is credited with founding the temple of Tongdosa in 646 CE, near in what is now Busan, South Korea, and played a significant role in the adoption of Buddhism as the national religion of Silla. His biography is told in the anthology of Korean Buddhism: "Jogye Culture Web", Vol 10.
Throughout the ages, there have been various popular religious traditions practiced on the Korean peninsula. The oldest indigenous religion of Korea is the Korean folk religion, which has been passed down from prehistory to the present. Buddhism was introduced to Korea from China during the Three Kingdoms era in the fourth century, and the religion became an important part of the culture until the Joseon Dynasty when Confucianism was established as the state philosophy. During the Late Joseon Dynasty, in the 19th century, Christianity began to take root in Korea. While both Christianity and Buddhism would play important roles in the resistance to the Japanese occupation of Korea in the first half of the 20th century, only about 4% of Koreans were members of a religious organization in 1940.
Munja or Munjamyeong was the 21st monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He was the grandson of Taewang Jangsu (413–491). Though Munja's father Gochudaega Joda (古鄒大加助多) had been named Crown Prince by Taewang Jangsu, Joda died before assuming the throne. He is considered as a ruler of Goguryeo at its zenith from Gwanggaeto the Great.
Jikjisa is a head temple of the Jogye Order of Seon Buddhism. It is located on the slopes of Hwangaksan in Daehang-myeon, Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It may be one of the oldest temples in South Korea.
Buddhist art is visual art produced in the context of Buddhism. It includes depictions of Gautama Buddha and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas, notable Buddhist figures both historical and mythical, narrative scenes from their lives, mandalas, and physical objects associated with Buddhist practice, such as vajras, bells, stupas and Buddhist temple architecture. Buddhist art originated in the north of the Indian subcontinent, in modern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the earliest survivals dating from a few centuries after the historical life of Siddhartha Gautama from the 6th to 5th century BCE.
Malananta was an Indian Buddhist monk and missionary who brought Buddhism to the southern Korean peninsula in the 4th century. Multiple romanizations of Malananta's name may be found, including Meghananda (मेघानंदा), Malananda, Maranant'a and Maalaananda. He was among the first to bring Buddhist teaching, or Dharma, to Korea. The Samguk yusa and Samguk yusa record him as the one who brought Buddhism to King Chimnyu of Baekje in 384 CE, along with Sundo in Goguryeo and Ado in Silla. Buddhism, a religion originating in what is now India, was transmitted to Korea via China in the late 4th century.
Korean influence on Japanese culture refers to the impact of continental Asian influences transmitted through or originating in the Korean Peninsula on Japanese institutions, culture, language and society. Since the Korean Peninsula was the cultural bridge between Japan and China throughout much of East Asian history, these influences have been detected in a variety of aspects of Japanese culture, including technology, philosophy, art, and artistic techniques.
The Republic of India and Japan relations have traditionally been strong. The people of India and Japan have engaged in cultural exchanges since ancient times. They are guided by common cultural traditions, including the shared heritage of Buddhism, and share a strong commitment to the ideals of democracy, tolerance, pluralism, and open societies.
India–Mongolia relations, also known as Indo-Mongolian relations, are the bilateral relations between the Republic of India and Mongolia. These relations are rapidly developing, with Indo-Mongolian cooperation formerly limited to diplomatic visits, provision of soft loans and financial aid and the collaborations in the IT sector; but were enhanced in 2015 by Narendra Modi's visit to Ulaanbaatar, where the two Prime Ministers declared a "strategic partnership" between the two Asian democracies.
There is a small Korean community in India, consisting largely of South Korean expatriate professionals and their families, as well as some missionaries and international students at Indian universities.
Indians in Korea are the migrant diaspora from India to Korea and their locally-born descendants. A majority of them live in Seoul and Busan, and smaller populations live in other parts of Korea.
The Baekje Historic Areas are a group of monuments located in three South Korean cities: Gongju, Buyeo, and Iksan. They relate to the last period of the Baekje Kingdom, representing the period from 475 to 660 CE, which was one of the three kingdoms that flourished from 18 BC to 660 CE. The property designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site has eight archaeological sites. These are: The Gongsanseong fortress and the royal tombs at Songsan-ri, related to the capital city of Ungjin, now Gongju; the Busosanseong Fortress and Gwanbuk-ri administrative buildings, the Jeongnimsa Temple, the Neungsan-ri royal tombs, and the Naseong city wall in Sabi, now Buyeo; and the Wanggung-ri Palace and the Mireuksa Temple in Iksan, a subsidiary capital region of Sabi.