Korea-India ties celebrated on Republic Day

   

                            Diplomatic soiree is held after Park’s visit and before Modi’s

	Indian Ambassador Vishnu Prakash, center; Jeong Kab-yoon, right, the National Assembly vice speaker; and Kim Ki-jai, the former minister of government administration and home affairs, light a traditional Indian lamp on Jan. 26 at the 66th Republic Day of India celebration held at the Millennium Seoul Hilton in Jung District, central Seoul. By Park Sang-moon

The Embassy of India last week commemorated the country’s 66th Republic Day with an event at the Millennium Seoul Hilton in Jung District, central Seoul, which was attended by approximately 400 people.

Republic Day commemorates the adoption of India’s constitution and is one of the three national holidays celebrated in the South Asian country, along with the Independence Day on Aug. 15, and Gandhi Jayanti on Oct. 2.

In a welcoming address on Jan. 26, Indian Ambassador Vishnu Prakash underscored Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s victory last May in a landslide election.

He also highlighted key diplomatic steps during the past year to strengthen ties between India and Korea, such as President Park Geun-hye’s state visit in January.

Prakash also noted the plan by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) to establish Korea’s first industrial park in India, in the state of Rajasthan, adding that he was pushing ahead with organizing Modi’s state visit to Korea later this year.

“The past three years working in Korea were three great years - and the best three years of my life,” he said. “I feel like [it has only been] three months” since landing here.

Jeong Kab-yoon, the National Assembly vice speaker who participated as an honorary guest, said India is Korea’s “friend and strategic partner,” and the brotherhood “was strengthened while Ambassador Prakash was stationed here.”

Jeong leads a friendship association formed with  and Indian lawmakers.

Hanging on the wall behind the podium was a photograph of President Park shaking hands with Modi during their trip to Myanmar last November for the 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit.

At the front of the banquet hall flanking the podium were several acrylic and oil paintings depicting Indian culture and society, all of which were provided by the Indian Art Museum in Seocho District, southern Seoul.

A buffet of Indian dishes was arranged along the far left and right sides of the room, including chickpea salad, chicken curry, palak paneer (spinach and cheese curry), steamed basmati rice, dal makhani (lentil curry) and Cape Brandy bread pudding.

Artists at the Indian Cultural Center, all dressed in traditional attire, provided entertainment for the international crowd with music and dance performances.

Koreans wearing hanbok, or traditional clothing, took to the stage later to dance and sing with their Indian counterparts.

 

SOURCE:KOREA JOONGANG DAILY

Korean Students say "Namaste" in JNU

Amid the growing partnership between India and Korea, a group of students from the Hindi Department of Busan University of Foreign Studies (BUFS) visited JNU to learn Hindi and about Indian Culture. The Centre for Korean Studies (CKS), School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University organizes basic courses on Hindi Language and Indian Culture for the Korean students every year.


Group of students from the Hindi Department of Busan University of Foreign Studies (BUFS) visited JNU to learn Hindi and about Indian Culture.

The basic level course aims at catering to the needs of those students who have had very little exposure to Hindi in Korea. The course the helps the students speak Hindi confidently and communicate effectively. The students are introduced with the basic sound system, syntactic structure and vocabulary of Hindi. They are taught about Indian culture through audio-visual aids.

They also get to learn the informal Hindi. The overall focus of the program is to impart conversational skills. Since they are mostly at the beginners level and for short period, the medium of instruction adopted is through Hindi and both. They are offered 5 courses on Basic structure of Hindi & Composition,Reading Ability,Audio-Video, Oral Expressions and Indian Culture and Society. The teaching faculty are the language experts who have vast experience of teaching Hindi. During the course students also learn Yoga by a trained yoga teacher.

 

 

 

The students are taught courses on Hindi language and Indian Culture using innovative methods. The focus is laid on making the contents interesting and ensuring that the teaching-learning process is not too mechanical.

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During the valedictory function held on Thursday at JNU the students sang Hindi songs and recited Hindi poems. They said they were amused to see India's cultural diversity and fond of Indian food. They were keen to see as many Hindi movies as possible before going back to Korea.Prof. VaishnaNarang, the Dean of School of Language, Literature and Culture studies welcomed the students and emphasized the need for more such programs to foster the cultural relationship between the two countries. Dr. Ravikesh, the program director said "we are delighted to receive such bright students and impart with them true colors of Indian culture and ethos. They get an opportunity to experience India in and outside class.

Yoga class is one such popular activity among them. They are true cultural ambassadors of India in Korea.In fact, BUFS has also decided to provide scholarships to 5 of our students to study in Korea for one semester and get the first hand experience." Prof. VyjayantiRaghavan, the Chairperson of the Centre, on this occasion,concluded that such program also provide an opportunity to our students to interact with the Korean students and improve their Korean skills.With popularity of both the languages getting higher,  it is going to be a good time for the Korean learners at JNU and Hindi learners at BUFS.

 

source:Indiatoday

HHI signs submarine deal in India

Hyundai Heavy Industries’ dockyard in Ulsan. Korea’s largest shipbuilder has set goal of collecting 22.9 billion dollars worth of orders this year. Provided by the company

The world’s largest shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), has established an agreement to build submarines for India as part of a 40-year program to strengthen the nation’s naval forces.

The financially struggling company said it signed an MoU with Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) last week stating that the Korean shipbuilder will work with the Indian company to build six submarines that the nation’s navy is preparing to order.

“Since HSL wants to be a part of the submarine manufacturing project by the navy, they asked us for help,” said a spokesman for HHI. “Because they are the largest shipbuilder in their country, the possibility that they will win the order is big.”

If HSL wins the contract, HHI will dispatch a work force to give technical support that the company needs to build the submarines while HSL will take charge of manufacturing the vessels. The Indian government will spend about $9.72 billion (10.47 trillion won).

In an interview with Indian media, HSL said, “HHI will help us build submarines as they are the biggest shipbuilder in the world and have some of the best high-end equipment and techniques. Since India has a 40-year submarine construction program, this will be a win-win situation for both of us.”

This is some of the best recent news for HHI, which has been struggling to make a profit as its number of orders decreases. The company expects that the project with HSL could help it grow in India in the future. The country is considered a big market for Korean companies in the defense industry. The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade said last year that India will become Korea’s second-largest export market in defense after the United States. According to the industry, the amount of weapons imported by India increased an average of 29.3 percent from 2009 to 2013.

Another Korean firm, Kokam, a lithium polymer battery manufacturer, is also seeking technical cooperation with HSL.

“It looks like India will invest about $76.9 billion in the next five years to replace their decrepit military devices and weapons,” said a spokesman for the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade. “Since Korean submarines, radars and howitzers have good price competitiveness in the market, this will be a good business opportunity for us.”

The institute said India’s recent expansion of its military force is a matter of survival, especially after China has been aggressively strengthening its navy recently to expand its influences in the Indian Ocean, a transport route for about 80 percent of the world’s oil.

Last year, China sent two submarines to run a combat simulation in the Indian Ocean, saying it was necessary to protect the nation’s businesses from pirates.

According to military sources last year, China has a total of 52 submarines in operation, three of which are nuclear powered. India, however, has 14 submarines and only one is nuclear powered, which it borrowed from Russia in 2012. About half of the 14 submarines were built in the 1980s, according to the industry.

source: KOREA JOONGANG DAILY

한국인 대상 ICCR 장학 프로그램

인도문화교류위원회(ICCR)는 한국의 우수 학생 2인에게 장학금을 지급한다. 본 장학 프로그램은 2015년 인도대학에서 공부를 희망하는 한국인 학부생, 대학원생 및 연구원을 대상으로 진행된다. 인도문화교류위원회(ICCR)는 선발된 학생들에게 학비, 생활비 등의 경비를 지원한다. 2 장학 프로그램에 대한 세부내용 및 지원서는 서울 인도문화원 홈페이지(http://indoculture.org/)에서 확인할 수 있다. 대학 및 기관에 대한 자세한 정보는 ICCR 홈페이지(http://www.iccrindia.net/GCSS_Scholarship_Letter.pdf)에서 확인 가능하다.    3. 지원자는 신청서 6부를 2015년 1월 21일까지 주한인도대사관에 제출해야 한다.  2015년 1월 23일에 영어 시험과 면접이 진행된다.      2014년 12월 31일  서울   자료: 주한인도대사관

In Seoul, Tagore's lamp is still lit by a Korean poetess and author

Kim Yang-shik’s eyes sparkled behind those stylish glasses while talking about the letter she received from Shantiniketan’s Visva-Bharati university earlier this year. The university, according to her, had finally in principle given the green signal to her opening a Korea Bhawan in the town synonymous with Rabindranath Tagore. It was “no answer, no answer, no answer” for years, she said. Tagore, of course, has been Kim’s “mentor” and her “spirit”. “Through Tagore’s poetry, I saw the world,” she told me while we sat chatting in the Indian Art Museum in a trendy Seoul neighourhood. Kim heads both the museum and the Tagore Society of Korea; she set up the society in 1981 following years of reading Tagore’s works and translating some including the Gitanjali from English to Korean. Her elder brother urged her to read Tagore, handing her copy of The Crescent Moon; there was no looking back after that, only turning more pages. She did her MA in Indian philosophy, eventually becoming a poet and essayist herself, and devoted time to translating Tagore. Currently, Kim is translating Tagore’s entire collection of poetry.  “Around 20 percent is left. I have been translating the poems for years,” Kim said, carefully wrapping her 30-year-old favourite embroidered Kashmiri shawl around her shoulders. Tagore never visited South Korea. But four lines he uttered about the country calling it the “lamp of the east” still remains lit in hearts like that of Kim’s. The city has Tagore statue in an university area as well. Tagore isn’t her only passion in life; India is a huge part of it. She’s travelled to India 30 times since 1975 and, over the years, collected Indian nearly 2000 artefacts – ranging from wood and stone carvings, musical instruments, paintings, furniture, fabric and handicraft – from across the country. The artefacts are displayed twice a year for a few months at the Museum, the curator, Kim Kyu-Won said. Kim also sponsors a scholarship at the Korean language course at JNU. She took me downstairs for a quick cup of coffee before rushing off for a meeting with lawyers and a visit to the National Museum of Korea. Looking at the chic, young Korean girls at the café, she grinned: “Very busy, these girls. Quick coffee after lunch”. At a sprightly 83, the Padma Shri awardee, Kim Yang-shik isn’t doing too badly either, I’d say. Source:Embassy of India,Seoul

ICCR Scholarships for Korean nationals

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is offering two scholarships to meritorious Korean students for the academic year 2015-16 to pursue Undergraduate, Postgraduate or Research studies in various disciplines in India. All expenses, including tuition fee, living allowance, etc. of the selected students will be borne by ICCR. 2 Detailed information about the scholarship programme, application process and form, is available at the Indian Cultural Centre, Seoul’s website -http://indoculture.org/. Further information about the University/ Institute or academic course of interest, is available at ICCR’s website - http://www.iccrindia.net/GCSS_Scholarship_Letter.pdf 3.       The last date for receipt of applications (in six copies) at the Embassy of India, Seoul is 21 January 2015. The English proficiency examination and interview would be conducted on 23 January 2015. Seoul 31 December 2014   Source:Embassy of India,Seoul

Republic of Korea leaders visit India to learn about the HIV epidemic and response

A high-level delegation of parliamentary and private sector leaders from the Republic of Korea visited India from 10 to 15 September to learn about the impact that HIV has on communities and how the country is responding to the AIDS epidemic.
The delegation was led by the recently formed Korean Women against AIDS (KOWA) organization, which works through women parliamentarians and senior business leaders to advocate for greater engagement in the Republic of Korea for ending the AIDS epidemic in Asia, Africa and across the globe.
While in New Delhi, the group met with Indian parliamentarians and visited the HIV Vaccine Translational Research Laboratory. As part of the fact-finding mission, the group also visited nongovernmental organizations providing counselling, care and support services to women and children living with HIV, as well as the K. B. Bhabha Hospital in Mumbai, which has a prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission centre. The leaders spoke with women living with HIV, learning how antiretroviral treatment can prevent babies from being born with HIV and keep their mothers alive.
While India has the largest HIV epidemic in Asia, with an estimated 2.1 million people living with HIV in 2013, the country has made significant progress. New HIV infections have dropped by 19% since 2005, about a third (36%) of people living with HIV are receiving life-saving treatment and AIDS-related deaths have dropped by 38% since 2005.

The mission came to India at the suggestion of UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, who, during a recent visit to the Republic of Korea, encouraged KOWA members to experience the AIDS response first-hand.

source:unaids.org