South Korea hitting hard to improve Indian image among its biz community
With geopolitical equations changing fast in Asia especially in the context of China, South Korea is telling its business community, to look for their future in India..
NEW DELHI: The Government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) is working hard to improve the negative perception of India in the minds of Koreans to persuade them to come to India to make investments, set up their businesses, and have joint ventures with Indian counterparts.
With global geopolitical equations changing fast, especially in Asia in the context of bilateral relations of various Asian countries with China, South Korea is trying to tell its people, especially the business community, to look for their future in India as a long term sustainable business model.
Korean Government’s trade arm Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) has resorted to various business community outreach programs and events to make the business communities of both the side meet, interact, and understand each other. Efforts are also being mooted to project India as a land of opportunities, stability, peace, and prosperity.
However, well aware of socio-economic changes taking place on the global front, the Korean business community, especially those with their business set-ups located in China, are looking for alternates in Asia for relocating to newer places because of the deteriorating South Korea-China political relations.
According to an industry estimate, more than 50,000 South Korean industrial units and other business setups are operating out of China, and the majority of them are contemplating to relocate to new locations ensuing a volatile geopolitical scenario in China.
And when it comes to alternate relocations in Asia, the options include Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and other nations, including India.
About India, the general perception in the minds of South Koreans is not very good because of various reasons, says Moon Young Kim, President, KOTRA Southwest Asia, Head office.
“South Koreans are familiar with China, its demographics, and market size but not of India. Some bad concept about India is prevalent in the minds of South Koreans, probably because of some shocking incidents like rapes, natural disasters causing deaths of so many people appearing in the South Korean newspapers. It had a bad impact on the psychology of the people there. We know that such incidents happen in China and other countries, too,” said Moon Young Kim in an exclusive interview with Asian Community News (ACN) Network in New Delhi.
What is being done to improve the image of India among the Korean community?
KOTRA is working hard to project India as not only a safe place to be but also a land of opportunities. It is reaching out to various media houses in Korea to spread the positive word about India.
The KOTRA chief said, “By releasing such news articles about good developments, we can change the perception of our people about India. We are telling our community that the Indian economy is progressing, India will be G3 nation in time to come, and India is the FDI destination of the world. The Indian government, led by Narendra Modi is very inclined to reform the economy. We are delivering this kind of news article to the Korean people through media and are creating a positive atmosphere for India in South Korea.”
Another mode of building confidence among the Korean investors, the KOTRA is using is the holding of matchmaking seminars and trade fairs in India as well as Seoul.
“In September, we organized ten programs in India and South Korea. We also organized a CSR seminar in Delhi and South Korea, offered job opportunities for Koreans as well as Indians who can speak the Korean language. We also invited Korean defense companies in Bangalore and New Delhi for defense and technical corporation, the Korean embassy also organized one Caravan program in Hyderabad and Odisha too,” said Moon Young Kim.
South Korea’s New Southern Policy is based on 3 Ps: People, Prosperity, and Peace:
Moon Young Kim said the very concept of South Korea’s New Southern Policy is based on 3 Ps: People, Prosperity, and Peace and peace mean defense. Prosperity means investment trade, and people mean the exchange of culture and human resources.
“And based on this concept of 3Ps, we organized ten separate programs under the title Korea India Economic Cooperation Week September 23-28, 2019. It was a big chance to introduce India to Korean people. Until now, Korean people’s perception of India was relatively insufficient compared to China and other Southeast Asian countries. By organizing this multi-program in India and Korea, we wanted to introduce Indian people as well as market, and change their perception about India,” added Moon Young Kim.
South Korea and India are committed to taking the bilateral trade from the current $20billion to $50 billion by the year 2030.
Media support in Korea and India:
According to Moon Young Kim, about 90 news articles were carried by the Korean newspapers about the Korea India Economic Cooperation Week.
“It was the first considerable effort at such a scale between Korea and India. We also received a good response from Indian media as well, including the Asian Community News (ACN) Network. We invited Korean and India media both. We want to continue next year also and make it an annual program,” he added.
Onground activity to boost the confidence of the Korean business community
Around 200 Korean companies participated from the defense, consumer goods like cosmetics, household as well as startups and Korean investors, venture capitalists (VCs), and FDI enthusiasts.
Many Korean companies met their counterparts in India. The negotiations revolved around cooperation in export and import, technical know-how, FDI, startups, job opportunities, and CSR.
After their meeting in September, mutual communication and correspondences between the companies of both the sides are going on. Response from Korea is that the participants are happy. They said they got to know about the Indian people and the business opportunities in India. Many of them were first-timers as 50 out of 200 companies had come to India for the first time.
Also read: Seoul calling: Korean startups, SMEs come to India looking for partners, associates
