Indian and South Korean defense ministers inked two MoU’s for military cooperation. The first MoU signed is for exchange of defence related experience and information. It includes visits by military and defense related civilian personnel and experts. The activities include education, training, military exercises, exchange of visits of ships and aircraft. There is also an element of cooperation in humanitarian assistance and international peace keeping activities. The MoU has a validity of five years and has a provision for its extension by five more years.
The Second MoU between DRDO and Defence Acquisition and Procurement Agency (DAPA) of South Korea aims at identifying futuristic defence technology areas of mutual interest and pursuing R&D works in both the countries. The MoU covers co- development and co-production of defence products with Indian industry through DRDO. There will be joint IPR on all the products developed through this mechanism. Some areas of immediate interest e.g., marine systems, electronics and intelligent systems have been identified as priority tasks.
The discussion between the two defense ministers covered a wide range of regional and global security issues.
Regular maritime exchanges between India and South Korea were an important aspect in the discussion. While South Korea will have better access to Indian Ocean region, the Indian Navy will have more reasons to venture into East China Sea.
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