Kim's death: Will India-North Korea ties improve?

[Soumya_india]

India is closely watching developments in North Korea following the death of its longtime leader Kim Jong-il, which could improve New Delhi's ties with the reclusive country whose nuclear programme and its export of missile technology to Pakistan have been a cause of much concern here.

New Delhi is watching the events in North Korea closely, said official sources.

Kim Jong-il, the supreme leader of nuclear-armed North Korea, died Saturday during a train journey. He was 69.

Reports from Pyongyang strongly indicate that Kim's youngest son Kim Jong-un has succeeded as the ruler of the country.

Not many are expecting any dramatic change in the power structure, but Kim's successor could bring in his own people and change some policies to consolidate his power base.

The death of Kim Jong-il comes at a time when India's relations with North Korea, which have always been shadowed by Pyongyang's covert export of missile technology to Islamabad through Pakistan's A.Q. Khan network, have shown some signs of improvement.

In March this year, India was quick to respond to a food crunch in North Korea by providing $1 million through the World Food Programme. Pyongyang lauded India's timely assistance.

For the first time in the last decade, North Korean foreign minister visited the Indian embassy at the Republic Day function in Pyongyang Jan 26. A few days later, the North Korean vice foreign minister invited the Indian ambassador for dinner, said sources, citing these instances as a warming of ties between the two countries.

In May, a team from North Korea visited India to explore the Indian experience in setting up special economic zones. In August, India and North Korea held foreign office consultations and decided to intensify bilateral ties.

India and North Korea established diplomatic relations way back in 1973 and have maintained embassies in each other's capitals. Many North Koreans receive training annually in India in diverse fields, including IT and science and technology.

However, the relations never blossomed due to North Korea's closed system and its ties with the military leadership in Pakistan that extended to covert nuclear tie-ups.

India's bilateral trade with North Korea is around half a billion dollars, a paltry amount compared to New Delhi's over $10 billion trade with South Korea.

India also sees North Korea's nuclear ambitions and its covert nuclear programme as a threat to regional security.

In 1999, India impounded North Korean vessel MV Ku Wol San off Kandla port and found that it was carrying 177 tonnes of missile components, blueprints and manuals.

In May 2009, India was quick to condemn the nuclear test conducted by North Korea and voiced its concerns about its adverse impact on peace and security in the region.

"For (North Korea) to conduct such a test in violation of its international commitments would be unfortunate," External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said May 25, 2009.

With India's growing trade with South Korea and its improving ties with North Korea, the US has been discussing the North Korean situation with New Delhi in a bid to broaden regional efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

Kim's death: Will India-North Korea ties improve?

 

[joekrish]

As long as there is no mind set change in the NK camp, I don't see too much coming India's way. Although I think it would be the right time for them to change things for their people, the country and the world.

 

[indushek]

There is nothing coming India's way for a long long time, Chinese are too well involved there. Wait and watch the unfolding drama. However India has to make some moves for a better foot hold there for future if the circumstances are right.

 

[shuntmaster]

Kim Jong-il's death: India fears revival of North Korea-Pak nuclear bonding



NEW DELHI: As "The Great Successor" Kim Jong-un is plunged into a leadership position of the reclusive, nuclear-armed and unstable North Korea after the sudden death of his father, India has reason to be wary at forthcoming events in north-east Asia.

India maintains diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, so a formal message will go out from New Delhi. But India is keeping a wary eye on events in that country because instability and uncertainty could revive an old weapons and nuclear proliferation ties between Pyongyang and Islamabad that would have a direct bearing on India's security.

Both North Korea and Pakistan, the closest allies of China, are going through unprecedented domestic challenges that could intensify concerns for neigbours in north-east and south Asia alike. Ongoing internal instability in North Korea and Pakistan when Beijing is going through its own leadership transition are burdens China could have done without. As far as Indian strategic thinking is concerned, Beijing has promoted these two unstable regimes on its periphery to keep neighbours like Japan and India off balance.

By the time Kim Jong-il took over from his father Kim Il Sung in 1994, North Korea and Pakistan had cemented a nuclear-missile trade relationship that impacted India's security calculations.

Pakistan has been accused of giving North Korea crucial technology relating to the gas centrifuge uranium enrichment in return for North Korean No Dong ballistic missiles.

Pakistan's Ghauri and Hatf series missiles have a North Korean origin. In 1992, Pakistan and North Korea first started talking about the Nodong missiles, and in 1993 the then PM of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto visited Pyongyang and was reported to have even brought back a dismantled missile.

Earlier this year, A Q Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear and missile programme, is reported to have told US media that he transferred more than $3 million in payments by North Korea to senior officers in the Pakistani military.

In the 1980s, Indian officials suspected that Pakistan supplied Khalistani militants with weapons apparently sourced from North Korea.

In recent years, India has started consultations with South Korea and Japan on North Korea, less because of Indian interest, but a lot because of the sensitivities of these two close allies in northeast Asia.

Little is known of Kim Jong Un except that he is believed to have attended school in Switzerland and apparently speaks both English and German and likes James Bond flicks. Kim Jong Il was famed for a bouffant hairstyle, platform shoes and jump suits. While most experts believe the transition to be relatively smooth, Kim Jong Un may face internal challenges from the military and other members of the establishment, who believe he may not be ready to become the next leader. Kim Jong Il's sister is believed to have a guardian role, but she has been ill, and nobody is quite sure how relations are between the young man and his uncle.