As a part of “VA Indo-Korean Utsava”, a two day event organised by the Department of International Studies & History and Innovation Centre, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) in association with the Consulate General of Republic of Korea, an International seminar was conducted. Professors and Scholars from various disciplines presented in the seminar in three sessions under the themes of India-East Asia economic relations, Politico-security relationship and Technology as a factor in foreign relations.
Session I: India-East Asia Economic Relations
The first presentation was by Dr. Hyunchae Park on the topic “Boosting Economic Relationship between India and Jeonla Do including Gwangju Metropolitan City”. In his presentation, Dr. Hyunchae Park spoke on how to boost economic relationship between India and Korea. He mainly focused on the cultural aspects to compare between the countries. The speaker also spoke on the strategies to bridge gap between India and Korea culturally. Park said India should promote oneself as culturally advanced countries were Koreans can emotionally connect with India, enhancing people to people contact.
Following this, the second presenter, Dr. Jitendra Uttam presented his paper on “Economics of a Regional Strategic Calculus: Korean Economic Interests in the Evolving Indo-Pacific Frame”. He talked on the Korean perspective of the theme under discussion. The objective of his paper was to disentangle economics behind a new strategic calculus referred as Indo- Pacific. The speaker focused on how the on-going shift in the re-imagination of Asia’s regional identity can impact economies of the region. Dr. Jitendra Uttam, also spoke on how the idea of Indo-Pacific came up and discussed the historical backgrounds and recent developments on the same. Prof. Uttam brought out a main argument saying Korea needs to clearly define sphere of its economic interests.
The third presentation saw Prof. Jaedong Kong speak on “The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Korea-India Cooperation Opportunities”. Professor presented on how Korean firms collaborate with Indian Software developers. The concept of fourth industrial revolution and its various dimensions was also discussed in his paper. Kong mentioned two cooperation models namely, Direct Expansion and Cooperative Expansion, while discussing the complimentarity between South Korea and India. Along with this he also spoke on the barriers existing between Korean firms and Indian Software Firms hindering mutual growth and development.
Lastly, Dr. Fr. Jose Chacko Chennathussery, Dr. Fr. Joseph Varghese and Dr. Paul Hong presented their views on“The Merging of Odyssey of Skill and Will between India and Korea: A Linkage Model of the World of Business”. The presenters talked on how Korean and Indian communities come together and create synergy. They discussed on the conditions for strategic partnerships like shared goals and identifiable long-term needs also citing examples of strategic partnerships. The paper also touched upon the changing scenarios in the economy with the establishment of G7, E7 and other countries in which, Indian and Korean overviews were also discussed.
Session II: Politico-Security Relationship between India and East Asia
The theme for the second session of International Seminar conducted by the Department of International Studies and History as a part of the Indo-Korea Utsav was “Politico-Security Relationship between India and East Asia”. Dr Jitendra Uttam, Assistant Professor in Korean Studies Division at the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University chaired the session. The session consisted of four paper presentations. Each presentation was allotted a time limit of 15 minutes.
The first presentation was on the topic ‘Korea and India Relations: with Special Reference to Political and Strategic Relations’. Dr. Chanwahn Kim who is currently the Head of the Department of Indian and ASEAN Studies, the Director of Center for North Bay of Bengal Studies, HUFS, the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of South Asian Studies and a member of Korea’s Official Pool of International Economists presented on the topic. The speaker touched upon the features common to both the states and major determinants in the relation between the states in the cold war and post cold war era. He also discussed about the economic cooperation as the first wave of Korea. The paper also tried to explain the concept of Indo-Pacific and role of China in the current relationship between India and Korea. He highlighted the significance of KAII (Korea, Australia, Indonesia and India) as the champion of the 3 Ps namely ‘People, Peace and Prosperity’ in the Indo-Pacific Region.
The second presentation by Dr. Jojin John was on the topic ‘India-South Korea Relations under ‘Special Strategic Partnership’: A Critical Evaluation’. Dr John is currently a Research Fellow at the Indian Council for World Affairs, New Delhi. He holds a PhD from the Schools of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2014. He has published articles in Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, China Report and other reputed journals. The paper evaluated the state of Indo- Korea relations and its trajectory. Evolution of Special Strategic Partnership and the developments under it in the forms of political, defense, security, investments, infrastructure etc were explained in detail. Primarily the paper focused on the bilateral relation between the two states in the last few years and observations were made from the analysis of the same.
The third presentation on the topic ‘Challenges of the India-South Korea Strategic Partnership: Hard Power and Soft Power’ was given by Dr. Joshy M. Paul and Sang Joon Kim. Dr. Joshy is an Assistant Professor, Department of International Studies and History, School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University). A Ph D holder from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he has published articles in South Asian Survey, International Studies and Maritime Affairs. Sang Joon Kim is doing his masters in International Studies with the Department of International Studies and History, Christ (Deemed to be University). He is a Captain in Republic of Korea Army and has graduated from the Korean Military Academy, 2011 as an officer in the Artillery Troop and Missile Command. The paper touched upon the challenges of strategic partnership between the states in terms of economy, security, soft power. The presenters also spoke about the role of the US in Asia Pacific and the importance of hard power in the ongoing relation between the two states. The paper highlighted the fact that there is a lack of research in the area of Indo-Korea relations and mentioned various ways to overcome the challenges.
The fourth presentation was on the topic ‘India South Korea Cooperation in Indo Pacific’. Dr.Avinash Godbole, Assistant Professor at Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities presented on the topic. Dr. Godbole has worked at various think tanks including IDSA, ICWA and the India-China Think Tank Forums. The speaker explained the strengths in the relation between the two states and discussed about China’s multiple unilateralism. History and present conception of the idea of Indo-Pacific was a significant contribution of the paper. It also analysed India’s approach to Indo-Pacific and listed out the recent developments in the bilateral relation between Korea and India. Along with mentioning of the common areas of interest between the two states, the speaker also gave his opinion as to how the concept of Indo-Pacific can be rescued from Trumpism.
The session ended with a question answer segment of 15 minutes in which students and scholars from various disciplines raised questions that led to further discussion.
Session III: Technology as a Factor in Foreign Relations
The first panellist, Dr Dong Seog Han, spoke on "Advanced Driver-Assistance System Technologies and Korea-India Cooperation Opportunities". He outlined the key trends in automotive industry like the battery electric vehicles. He also spoke about connectivity and digitalisation. The talk shares the current status of technology development and also the introduction of V2X and ADAS in Korea. The speaker also said that Korea and India have excellent human resources and if we share the experiences of manpower and research in the field of ICT software in India and Korea, we will develop in future automobile fields. He also spoke about Self- driving technology under which the three important points are thinking, control and driving condition awareness connection. He also said that cars are always connected to the network and as a conclusion he said that we look for co-operation fields of education and research for the joint development of the two countries.
Then, Dr. Alok Kumar Malaviya, presented his paper on "Improved biotransformation of phytosterol to Androstenedione by applying two stage strain improvement programs". The talk concentrated on steroid production and about biofuel. The Panellist spoke about how a two staged strain improvement programme was applied to improve biotransformation of phytosterol to Androstenedione. The speaker also covered topics like process development for improved AD production and the challenges and experimental strategies. He also mentioned that efficiency was high in Korean labs. He said an overall 3.3 –fold increase in AD accumulation capacity of mycobacterium sp. Was achieved by applying two stage strain improvement protocol.
The last speaker for the day, Dr.Ravi Kumar, talked about the "Basis for building relations between India and South Korea." The panellist spoke about how India and Korea can come together in technological developments. The main objective is how to strengthen India and Korea relationship. He also spoke about growth of digital technology, creation and diffusion of technology, development of global value chain. He also mentioned that India ranks second in high quality research. He spoke about establishment of global in house centres in India and the emerging start ups . He gave an overview of Korea’s research S and T. He spoke about Korean TBIS, its evolution and status. As a conclusion he said India and Korean relation can be strengthened based on technology.
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