During the meeting at the ministry’s headquarters in Seoul, the two ministers agreed to further broaden cooperation in defense and arms industry fields, building on the “joint strategic vision” adopted at last month’s summit between the leaders of the two countries.
On defense industry cooperation, the two sides positively assessed past achievements, including exports of K9 self-propelled howitzers to India, and agreed to continue expanding cooperation.
The two countries also signed agreements to support more practical cooperation in areas such as cybersecurity, U.N. peacekeeping operations and exchanges between their national defense universities.
Ahn explained South Korea’s consistent efforts to restore inter-Korean trust and resume dialogue with North Korea for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula, while asking for India’s continued support.
The meeting was arranged after Ahn invited Singh to South Korea during the 12th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus last year. It marked the first visit by an Indian defense minister to South Korea since 2019.
Separately, Lee Yong-cheol, head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, met Singh to discuss defense industry cooperation and held the Korea-India Defense Forum.
“The K9 self-propelled howitzer is a representative success story of Korea-India defense industry cooperation,” Lee said, expressing hope that the two countries would continue expanding cooperation not only in ongoing projects but also across a broader range of weapons systems.
The two sides also discussed the launch of the Korea-India Defense Innovation Platform, or KIND-X, aimed at accelerating defense cooperation in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Systems each signed memorandums of understanding with Larsen & Toubro, India’s leading defense company, in the presence of Lee and Singh.
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