Seoul Pushes India-Japan-ASEAN Link As It Seeks To Cut China Dependence

NEW DELHI: South Korea has been on a charm offensive with India: witness its mission staffers in Delhi dancing to the Oscar-winning song Nattu Nattu or foreign minister Park Jin acknowledging he is a Bollywood fan during a visit to the Capital earlier this month. But there’s something else here that suggests Seoul wants to insert India into its ambitious Southern policy. “South Korea has been trying to link Southeast Asia with India with Asean to have a much stronger connect with the Indo-Pacific,” says Dr. Jagannath Panda head of the Stockholm Center for Southeast and India Pacific Affairs. “From India’s point of view we have also had a more active ‘Act East’ policy which has sought to build a stronger outreach to South Korea and Japan.”...Read More