ndia and South Korea share a long civilisational memory. Rabindranath Tagore called Korea the “Lamp of the East” in 1929. The modern relationship rests less on memory than on economic divergence and emerging complementarity.

In the early 1960s, the two countries were development peers. Both were agrarian, capital-scarce, and recently partitioned. South Korea was poorer, with per capita income around $87. Food insecurity was routine. Rural households faced seasonal shortages before harvest. Exports were limited to low-value manufactures such as plywood, wigs, and dried seafood.

From 1962, South Korea broke away. India chose a different path in the same period. The divergence that followed now shapes the logic of deeper engagement.

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