Finally, India has changed its ‘North Korea’ policy in order to enjoy a greater strategic benefit in the changing global geopolitical scenario.
In the past, India did not criticise the Asia Pacific nation for conducting missile tests mainly because of neighbouring China, which maintains close ties with North Korea. Although the majority of Indians considers North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a madman, New Delhi had decided to keep a ‘distance’ from the issue. Traditionally, the South Asian nation abstained from voting at the UN on motions against Pyongyang’s human rights violations. New Delhi maintained friendly diplomatic relations with Pyongyang and also arranged technology training programme for North Korean students. Even, the North Korean foreign minister visited the Indian capital in 2015.

N Korean foreign minister with Indian counterpart
However, Kim’s desperate attempt to get closer to a military confrontation with far superior rival America has prompted the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi to change its policy towards the North.
On July 7, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) released a strongly worded statement, condemning North Korea’s July 4 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch. The MEA described Pyongyang’s ballistic missile programme as a grave threat to India’s security and international peace. India also said that all international supporters of North Korea should be held accountable for their actions.
It is to be noted that the Indian ministry issued the statement only after Prime Minister Modi authorised a string of anti-Pyongyang actions. In April, India backed the UN’s move to ban all trade with North Korea, despite the fact that the decision brought an abrupt end to a decade of growth in India-North Korea trade links.
Senior Indian journalist Sreemoy Talukdar is of the opinion that Prime Minister Modi has made a calculated move as he is aware of the fact that India needs to maintain ‘cordial’ ties with Japan, South Korea and America in order to ensure a steady economic growth. The premier has realised that the change in India’s North Korea policy will bring it closer to US-Japan-South Korea axis and will be beneficial for New Delhi in the long run.

By condemning the North Korean missile tests, India sent a strong message to the global community: it is immoral to back a rogue regime. India sent the message with a hope that the world would condemn the other rogue state (Pakistan). According to foreign policy experts, India not only wanted to act as a responsible nuclear power, but also tried to send a message to neighbouring China (because under Beijing’s patronage, the rogue regimes of North Korea and Pakistan are developing their own ballistic missile arsenal).
But, India’s policy shift came at a cost. The decision to ban all trade with the Communist nation hit India, which was North Korea’s third largest trading partner (after China and Saudi Arabia), hard as North Korea was one of the very few countries with whom India enjoyed a trade surplus of around USD 23 million. However, experts believe that India will gain economically and diplomatically in the long run due to the greater strategic synergy with Washington, Tokyo and Seoul.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das