South Korean President to visit India Apr 19–21, meet PM Modi to deepen strategic ties

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to visit India April 19–21, meet PM Modi to boost trade, shipbuilding, semiconductors and tech cooperation

Published on: Apr 16, 2026, 23:21:38 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar, New Delhi

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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will visit India next week for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi aimed at enhancing cooperation in key areas such as trade, shipbuilding, semiconductors and emerging technologies.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will visit India next week for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (REUTERS)

Lee is the first South Korean president to travel to India in eight years, and he will be in the country during April 19–21 with First Lady Kim Hea Kyung and a delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and business leaders. This will also be his first visit to India.

Lee and Modi will hold discussions on strengthening cooperation in a spectrum of areas, including shipbuilding, trade, investments, AI, semiconductors, critical and emerging technologies and people-to-people ties, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday. They will also discuss regional and global issues.

Lee will also meet President Droupadi Murmu and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-rak told a media briefing in Seoul that Lee’s visit will bolster South Korea’s Global South diplomacy in view of India’s leading role among developing nations. The visit will also strengthen the special strategic partnership between South Korea and India and create new momentum for economic cooperation, he said.

The two sides will lay the groundwork for achieving $50 billion in bilateral trade by 2030 by accelerating negotiations to improve the Korea-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, he said.

The external affairs ministry said Lee’s visit underscores the shared aspiration of both countries to strengthen the existing areas of cooperation and expand collaboration to new and emerging areas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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