Posted on : Jul.10,2018 16:55 KST
Modified on : Jul.10,2018 17:01 KST
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South Korea President Moon Jae-in and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi on July 9. It was the first occasion of Modi visiting the museum with a foreign head of state. (Yonhap News)
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South Korean president stresses economic cooperation in keynote address
South Korean President Moon Jae-in boarded the New Delhi subway and met with members of the Indian public on July 9 after a surprise suggestion from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
For the second day of his visit as a guest of the state, President Moon worked to broaden full-scale economic cooperation with India.
President Moon boarded the subway with Modi that afternoon on his way to a dedication ceremony of a second Samsung Electronics plant in Noida, a city in the northern Indian state of Utter Pradesh. The two talked as they traveled a total of eleven stops from Mandi House to Botanical Garden.
The two were recognized by members of the Indian public, who waved at and took pictures of them. Images were broadcast life by DD News and other Indian networks. The train boarded by the two leaders was produced by Hyundai Rotem, while Samsung C&T was involved in the building of a portion of the 11 stations on their route, the Blue House explained.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in boards a New Delhi subway with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi on July 9. (Indian news broadcast)
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The two leaders’ subway trip came at Modi’s suggestion.
“Prime Minister Modi suggested riding the subway before their arrival at the National Gandhi Museum,” explained a Blue House official.
“It appears he wanted to travel together by subway rather than going to the event site in separate cars so that they would more time for friendliness and an opportunity to meet members of the public,” the official said.
President Moon’s schedule with Modi began earlier with a visit to the National Gandhi Museum to offer a dedication of flowers. It was Modi’s first time visiting the museum with a foreign head of state. In the museum visitors’ book, President Moon wrote, “Peace is the path. Peace can only be achieved through peace.”
The two leaders proceeded to the museum’s World Peace Gong, which they rang. Modi provided President Moon with the utmost cordial reception, accompanying him to 11 of the 18 events taking place during the South Korean leader’s visit.
In his remarks that day, President Moon placed a particular emphasis on economic cooperation with India. In a keynote speech for a South Korea-India business forum at New Delhi’s Taj Palace hotel, he announced plans to pursue his “New Southern Policy, which would usher relations with India on par with [South Korea’s] four major neighboring powers [the US, China, Japan, and Russia].”
“South Korea has opened a path to establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula through the inter-Korean summits and North Korea-US summit,” he continued.
“This is the right moment to invest in South Korea,” he added.
Potential areas for economic cooperation
President Moon also named shipbuilding, medical equipment, aerospace, and smart cities as potential areas for cooperation.
“Through the combination of the word-class basic science and technology and software technology that are India’s strengths and the applied technological and hardware that are South Korea’s strengths, our two sides can move forward as leaders in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era,” he predicted.
Stressing his own personal connection with India, he remarked, “My daughter [Moon Da-hye] is a yoga instructor in South Korea,” drawing laughter and applause from attendees.
President Moon also invited 150 overseas Koreans in India to attend a dinner and roundtable that evening.
“Hyeon Dong-hwa, who was head of the Korean association in New Delhi back in 1997, was a onetime anti-communist prisoner of war who chose India as a neutral country to begin a new life,” he noted, adding that Hyeon had “served as the real-life basis for the main character in Choi In-hoon’s novel ‘The Square.’”
“We are grateful to and proud of all of you for forging a community under difficult conditions without proper attention from the [South Korean] government,” he continued.
Modi sent a traditional Indian dance troupe to perform at the roundtable, the Blue House reported.
By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter
Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]