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Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004

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South Korean President to visit India

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 13. The South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, will pay a State visit to India from October 4-6, it has been officially announced in both New Delhi and Seoul. It will be the first visit by a South Korean President to India in eight years — then President Kin Young-Sam had come to India in February 1996.

Mr. Roh's visit comes at a time when trade between India and South Korea has been increasing. Official sources said that trade between the two countries had touched $4 billion in 2003-04 as against $2.6 billion in 2002-03.

A statement posted on the website of the South Korean Foreign Ministry said that the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and Mr. Roh would discuss the establishment of a comprehensive cooperative partnership based on a 30-year relationship between the two countries.

"They will also participate in the signing of the RoK-India Treaty on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and the Treaty on Extradition. During the visit, President Roh also plans to visit Korean business working in India, participate in a luncheon hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and businessmen of India to exchange views on ways to further promote substantial cooperation between the two countries, and meet with Koreans living in India," the announcement said.

"President Roh's upcoming visit to India is expected to build mutual friendship and confidence with the leading figures of the new Indian Government, which was launched in May 2004, and uplift the RoK-India relations onto a higher level," it added.

The last high-level visit from India to Seoul was that of the then Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, in 1993. In the last 11 years, no Indian Prime Ministers has visited South Korea. However, Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh visited South Korea in their capacity as External Affairs Ministers when the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government was in power.

According to official sources, the North Korean nuclear issue, regional and international issues as well as the situation in South Asia would figure in the talks that Mr. Roh would have with the Prime Minister.

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