President Park Geun-hye met with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on her visit to Korea to attend the eighth India-Republic of Korea joint commission meeting, on December 29 at Cheong Wa Dae.
During the meeting, they exchanged their views on major issues, strove toward enhancing bilateral ties between Korea and India and also discussed issues concerning the Korean Peninsula.
“I got more convinced during my visit to India last January that India can be the best partner for Korea as it shares its future vision with us,” said the president. “Last November, I also held a summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We had in-depth conversations about how to expand bilateral relations,” she added.
In response, the Indian minister said that she was reminded of the first time she met President Park last January, when she called the president eonni, a Korean word used by women to address another female sibling or friend older than them.
“I am thankful and honored to meet you again. I’d like to offer my congratulations on the successful hosting of the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit held recently in Busan."
President Park continued to clarify her hopes that the Indian government would offer constant support and cooperation to Korea, so that both sides can push ahead with economic issues agreed upon at the summit in November. The issues include: completing a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) between the two countries; building a POSCO steel mill in Odisha, in eastern India; reforming the Korea-India double tax avoidance agreement; and, lastly, reforming the aviation agreement struck between the two countries.
The president also said that she felt so grateful that India, as one of Korea's strategic cooperative partners, constantly expressed its worries about North Korea’s unwavering ambition to develop nuclear weapons and missiles, and that it kept urging the North to abandon its nuclear weapons.
She then stressed that the only peaceful path toward solving the North Korean issue and achieving peace and security across Northeast Asia is to unify the divided Koreas, calling for the Indian government to show constant support for her administration’s unification policies.
The Indian minister replied that the Indian government will maintain its stance on North Korea and on the denuclearization of the peninsula. “The Indian government hopes that such issues will be solved through peaceful dialogue. We will give our support to the South Korean government’s policies on attaining a peaceful unification of the peninsula,” the minister added.
By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Cheong Wa Dae
jiae5853@korea.kr
During the meeting, they exchanged their views on major issues, strove toward enhancing bilateral ties between Korea and India and also discussed issues concerning the Korean Peninsula.
President Park Geun-hye (right) shakes hands with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj at Cheong Wa Dae on December 29.
“I got more convinced during my visit to India last January that India can be the best partner for Korea as it shares its future vision with us,” said the president. “Last November, I also held a summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We had in-depth conversations about how to expand bilateral relations,” she added.
In response, the Indian minister said that she was reminded of the first time she met President Park last January, when she called the president eonni, a Korean word used by women to address another female sibling or friend older than them.
“I am thankful and honored to meet you again. I’d like to offer my congratulations on the successful hosting of the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit held recently in Busan."
President Park Geun-hye (third from right) holds talks with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj (second from left) at Cheong Wa Dae on December 29.
President Park continued to clarify her hopes that the Indian government would offer constant support and cooperation to Korea, so that both sides can push ahead with economic issues agreed upon at the summit in November. The issues include: completing a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) between the two countries; building a POSCO steel mill in Odisha, in eastern India; reforming the Korea-India double tax avoidance agreement; and, lastly, reforming the aviation agreement struck between the two countries.
The president also said that she felt so grateful that India, as one of Korea's strategic cooperative partners, constantly expressed its worries about North Korea’s unwavering ambition to develop nuclear weapons and missiles, and that it kept urging the North to abandon its nuclear weapons.
She then stressed that the only peaceful path toward solving the North Korean issue and achieving peace and security across Northeast Asia is to unify the divided Koreas, calling for the Indian government to show constant support for her administration’s unification policies.
The Indian minister replied that the Indian government will maintain its stance on North Korea and on the denuclearization of the peninsula. “The Indian government hopes that such issues will be solved through peaceful dialogue. We will give our support to the South Korean government’s policies on attaining a peaceful unification of the peninsula,” the minister added.
By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Cheong Wa Dae
jiae5853@korea.kr
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