India–North Korea relations

India–North Korea relations(Korean:인디아-조선민주주의 인민공화국 관계), also calledIndian-North Korean relationsorIndo-North Korean relations, are thebilateral relationsbetweenIndiaandNorth Korea. Both countries have growing trade and diplomatic relations.Indiamaintains an embassy inPyongyang, andNorth Koreahas an embassy inNew Delhi.
India was one of North Korea's biggest trade partners and a major food aid provider.According toCII, India's exports to North Korea in 2013 totaled more than US $60 million.However India has implemented theUnited Nations Security Council economic sanctionsand has ceased most trade with North Korea in April 2017.
India is a critic of North Korea's nuclear proliferation record and has also voiced concerns of de-nuclearization and disarmament. India has repeatedly condemnedNorth Korean nuclear testsand views its nuclear programme as a threat to regional security.But on the other side, India has provided US $1 million medical assistance to North Korea during theCOVID-19 pandemicinthe country.
India has maintained that any peaceful agreement between North Korea and South Korea will be strongly endorsed. India has also cleared that it wants thereunification of Korea.According to 2014BBCWorld Service Poll, 23% of Indians view North Korea's worldly influence positively, with 27% expressing a negative view.
In 2022, it was alleged that North Korean hackers had hacked into ATMs of Cosmos Bank although the news was not fully confirmedwhile there were worldwide allegations about North Korea's cyber-hacking into world-wide banks and financial offices.
According to the 13th century chronicleSamguk Yusa, the ancient Korean queenHeo Hwang-okcame from a kingdom called "Ayuta". Different theories identifies Ayuta as Ayodhya or Kanyakumari in India.In 2001, a South Korean delegation inaugurated a memorial to the queen in Ayodhya.
A famous Korean visitor to India wasHyecho, a Korean Buddhist monk from Silla, one of the three Korean kingdoms of the period. On the advice of his Indian teachers in China, he set out for India in 723 CE to acquaint himself with the language and Indian culture. He wrote a travelogue of his journey in Chinese,Wang ocheonchukguk jeonor "An account of travel to the five Indian kingdoms". The work was long thought to be lost. However, a manuscript turned up among theDunhuang manuscriptsduring the early 20th century.
A rich merchant from theMa'bar Sultanate, Abu Ali (P'aehali) 孛哈里 (or 布哈爾 Buhaer), was associated closely with the Ma'bar royal family. After falling out with them, he moved toYuan dynastyChina and received a Korean woman as his wife and a job from the Mongol Emperor, the woman was formerly桑哥Sangha's wife and her father was 蔡仁揆채송년Ch'ae In'gyu during the reign of 忠烈Chungnyeol of Goryeo, recorded in theDongguk Tonggam,Goryeosaand留夢炎Liu Mengyan's 中俺集 Zhong'anji.桑哥Sangha was a Tibetan.
Rabindranath Tagore's poem 'Lamp of the East 'composed in 1929 speaks about the
glorious past and bright future of Korea. This poem is popular even today:
India condemned North Korea as an aggressor when theKorean Warstarted, supporting Security Council resolutions82and83on the crisis. However, India did not supportresolution 84for military assistance to South Korea. As anon-alignedcountry,India hesitated to involve itself in a military commitment against North Korea. Instead, India gave its moral support for the UN action and decided to send a medical unit to Korea as a humanitarian gesture. The 60th Indian Field Ambulance Unit, a unit of theIndian Airborne Division, was selected to be dispatched to Korea. The unit consisted of 346 men including 14 doctors.
India was chair of the 9-member UN Commission that monitored elections in undivided Korea in 1947. After the Korean War, India again played an important role as the chair of theNeutral Nations Repatriation Commissionin the Korean peninsula.
Consular relations were created on 1 March 1962, and The Consulate General of India in the DPRK was established in October 1968. An Indian Embassy in Pyongyang was established on 10 December 1973. Both states are members of theNon-Aligned Movement, underlining a common view on many international issues.India makes efforts to engage in dialogue to support peace and stability in Korea and tries to act as a bridge between North Korea and theWestern world.
India's relationship with North Korea has however been affected by North Korean relations with Pakistan especially due to its help for Pakistan's nuclear missile programme. In 1999, India impounded a North Korean ship off the Kandla coast that was found to be carrying missile components and blueprints. India's relations with South Korea have far greater economic and technological depth and India's keenness for South Korean investments and technology have in turn affected its relations with the North adversely. India has consistently voiced its opposition to North Korean nuclear and missile tests.
As a consequence ofUnited Nations Security Council economic sanctions, with effect from 7 March 2019, Indian citizens can not undertake capital account transactions with North Korean citizens. Also Indian Government has asked the existing investment transactions to be liquidated within a period of 180 days from the date of notification.
In July 2021, India temporarily closed its embassy inPyongyangdue to COVID-19 restrictions and the Indian ambassador to North Korea, Atul Gotsurve left North Korea on a special train via theNorth Korea–Russia border.It was reopened in December 2024.
Trade between India and North Korea has seen a large increase in recent years. From an average total trade of barely $10 million in the middle of the 2000s, it shot up to $60 million in 2013. The trade is overwhelmingly in India's favor, with its exports accounting for roughly $60 million while North Korean exports to India were worth $36 million. India's primary export to North Korea is refined petroleum products while silver and auto parts are the main components of its imports from North Korea.India participated in the sixth Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair in October 2010 and there have been efforts to bring about greater economic cooperation and trade between the two countries since then.In 2010–11, Indo-North Korean trade stood at $57 million with India's exports accounting for $32 million.Due to UNSC sanctions resolutions, trade except food and medicine, with DPRK with
effect from April 2017 is restricted. The bilateral trade has declined considerably due to
the UN Sanctions.
In 2002 and 2004, India contributed 2000 tonnes of food grains to help North Korea tide over severe famine-like conditions. In 2010, India responded to North Korea's request forfood aidand made available to it 1300 tonnes ofpulsesandwheatworth $1 million through the UNWorld Food Programme.India has contributed $1 million to the World Food Programme for its humanitarian activities in North Korea in the year 2019, the UN agency's monthly report released in November 2019 showed this, as the impoverished North struggles to cope with chronic food shortages. "WFP has intensified the South-South and Triangular cooperation as an avenue to enhance support to the DPRK and has received a contribution from the Government of India of $1 million for its in-country operations," the report said.
The Indian government sent $1 million worth of anti-tuberculosis medicine to North Korea per a request from the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a press release issued by the Indian embassy in Pyongyang."The medical assistance is under the aegis of WHO's ongoing anti-tuberculosis (TB) program in the DPRK," the press release stated. The aid package was handed over to North Korean authorities by the Indian ambassador to the DPRK, Atul Malhari Gotsurve. The supply of anti-tuberculosis medicine, which is India's latest set of humanitarian assistance to North Korea — was sent because "India is sensitive to the shortage of medical supply" to the DPRK, the embassy stated.
On 23 April 2015North KoreanForeign Minister Ri Su Yong visitedNew Delhi, capital of theIndiafor talks with Indian Foreign MinisterSushma Swarajon North Korea'snuclearprogramme and to request additional humanitarian assistance but no agreement was reached because of the recent North Korean statement in support of Pakistan.
On 15 May 2018Vijay Kumar SinghGen. (Retd.), Indian Minister of State for External Affairs met with DPRK Vice PresidentKim Yong-dae, and the Foreign and Culture ministers .