Bengaluru: South Korea’s Consul General for South India Hyung Tae Kim has expressed hope that the two countries would emerge as ideal partners in near future as leaders of both the countries have shown keenness in strengthening bilateral relations.
Addressing delegates of the two-day Indo-Korean Utsav organised at Christ (Deemed-to-be-university), Kim said that Korea’s ‘New Southern Policy’ and ‘Act East Policy’ read along with both countries agreeing to work towards fostering a “future-oriented partnership for people, prosperity and peace” is a positive development.
“The tie, at present, has been made stronger with South Korean President Moon Jae-in visiting India to further discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Their shared vision for the prosperity and peace of both the countries is a pragmatic development,” he said.
He remarked it was heartening to see that every fifth car running on Indian roads is of a Korean company. Highlighting similarities with south Indians he said both South Koreans and South Indians consume rice as staple food, respect elders, and cherish family relationships, also giving importance to education.
The Utsav was held as part of the ongoing Golden Jubilee celebrations of the institution. An international seminar on ‘India- East Asia Relations: A South Korean Perspective’ organised by the Department of International Studies & History and Innovation Centre of the varsity was held along with the event.
Experts and scholars from various disciplines presented research work and their insights into India-East Asia economic relations, politico-security relationship and technology as a factor in foreign relations, among the major topics.
One among them, Dr. Paul C. Hong, professor at University of Toledo, USA spoke on ‘Prospects of Korea’s Re-Unification: Implications for India’ during the inaugural ceremony held on Monday.
Woo Seop Song, President of Korean Association in Bengaluru was also present for the event which also staged various Indo – Korean cultural programmes and exhibitions put up by the students.
“We were delighted to see the Consul General receiving the abstracts of the seminar held at the event promising us to take a look into matters presented at the event. The collective efforts of the students in organising the event at such a large scale and trying to learn maximum from the experts is also something commendable,” said Dr Madhumati Deshpande, Co-ordinator for Department of International Studies and History, Christ.
