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Presidential Senior Secretary for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan briefs the press about the significance of President Moon Jae-in’s state visit to India, at the press center in New Delhi on July 10. (Cheong Wa Dae)

By Xu Aiying and Kim Young Shin 

Cheong Wa Dae announced that President Moon Jae-in’s state visit to India has helped the two sides affirm that their past partnership has been expanded and upgraded to now become a comprehensive partnership, all the better to build trust and friendship.

“Based on President Moon’s New Southern Policy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Act East Policy, the two leaders have agreed to expand cooperation on diplomacy, security and national defense, as well as the economy, by boosting person-to-person and cultural exchanges,” said Presidential Senior Secretary for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan during his briefing at the press center in New Delhi on July 10.

The two leaders met a total of 11 times during the president’s visit to India over three nights and four days.

Prime Minister Modi has shown exceptional hospitality to the president, such as arranging traditional Indian dance performances for the dinner Moon and his spouse hosted for the Korean community living in India. Yoon said that Modi greatly valued Korea as a model for India’s economic development, every since he was chief minister in Gujarat, and believed that the presidential visit would secure the partnership between Seoul and New Delhi.

The two leaders together expressed their strong will for denuclearization and for peace on the Korean Peninsula, noting that it was a core value of the visit. “They agreed that the disposal of North Korea’s nuclear missiles and nuclear weapons program is critical to India’s national security and that denuclearization and a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula are not only in Korea’s but also in India’s best interests,” said Yoon.

“For the defense industry, the two sides agreed to combine Korea’s cutting-edge technology and hardware with India’s rich human resources and soft power to expand the reach of the Korean defense industry in both the Indian and global market,” Yoon said.

xuaiy@korea.kr