India–North Korea relations (; ), also called Indian-North Korean relations or Indo-North Korean relations, are the bilateral relations between India and North Korea. Both countries have growing trade and diplomatic relations. India maintains an embassy in Pyongyang, and North Korea has an embassy in New Delhi.
India was one of North Korea's biggest trade partners and a major food aid provider. According to CII, India's exports to North Korea in 2013 totaled more than US$60 million. However India has implemented the United Nations Security Council economic sanctions and has ceased most trade with North Korea in April 2017.
India is a critic of North Korea's nuclear proliferation record and has also voiced concerns of de-nuclearization and disarmament. India has repeatedly condemned North Korean nuclear tests and views its nuclear programme as a threat to regional security. But on the other side, India has provided $1 Million medical assistance to North Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
India has maintained that any peaceful agreement between North Korea and South Korea will be strongly endorsed. India has also cleared that it wants the reunification of Korea. According to 2014 BBC World Service Poll, 23% of Indians view North Korea's worldly influence positively, with 27% expressing a negative view.
In 2022, it was alleged that North Korean hackers had hacked into ATMs of Cosmos Bank although the news was not fully confirmed while there were worldwide allegations about North Korea's cyber-hacking into world-wide banks and financial offices.
History
Pre-modern relations
According to the 13th century chronicle Samguk Yusa, the ancient Korean queen Heo Hwang-ok came from a kingdom called "Ayuta". Different theories identifies Ayuta as Ayodhya or Kanyakumari in India. In 2001, a South Korean delegation inaugurated a memorial to the queen in Ayodhya.
A famous Korean visitor to India was Hyecho, a Korean Buddhist monk from Silla, one of the three Korean kingdoms of the period. On the advice of his Indian teachers in China, he set out for India in 723 CE to acquaint himself with the language and Indian culture. He wrote a travelogue of his journey in Chinese, Wang ocheonchukguk jeon or "An account of travel to the five Indian kingdoms". The work was long thought to be lost. However, a manuscript turned up among the Dunhuang manuscripts during the early 20th century.
A rich merchant from the Ma'bar Sultanate, Abu Ali (P'aehali) 孛哈里 (or 布哈爾 Buhaer), was associated closely with the Ma'bar royal family. After falling out with them, he moved to Yuan dynasty China and received a Korean woman as his wife and a job from the Mongol Emperor, the woman was formerly 桑哥 Sangha's wife and her father was 蔡仁揆 채송년 Ch'ae In'gyu during the reign of 忠烈 Chungnyeol of Goryeo, recorded in the Dongguk Tonggam, Goryeosa and 留夢炎 Liu Mengyan's 中俺集 Zhong'anji. 桑哥 Sangha was a Tibetan.
Rabindranath Tagore's poem ‘Lamp of the East ‘composed in 1929 speaks about the
glorious past and bright future of Korea. This poem is popular even today: "In the golden age of Asia, Korea was one of its lamp bearers and That lamp is waiting to be lighted once again for the illumination in the East"
Korean War
India condemned North Korea as an aggressor when the Korean War started, supporting Security Council resolutions 82 and 83 on the crisis. However, India did not support resolution 84 for military assistance to South Korea. As a non-aligned country, India hesitated to involve itself in a military commitment against North Korea. Instead, India gave its moral support for the UN action and decided to send a medical unit to Korea as a humanitarian gesture. The 60th Indian Field Ambulance Unit, a unit of the Indian Airborne Division, was selected to be dispatched to Korea. The unit consisted of 346 men including 14 doctors.
India was chair of the 9-member UN Commission that monitored elections in undivided Korea in 1947. After the Korean War, India again played an important role as the chair of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission in the Korean peninsula.
Recent relations
Consular relations were created on 1 March 1962, and The Consulate General of India in the DPRK was established in October 1968. An Indian Embassy in Pyongyang was established on 10 December 1973. Both states are members of the Non-Aligned Movement, underlining a common view on many international issues. India makes efforts to engage in dialogue to support peace and stability in Korea and tries to act as a bridge between North Korea and the Western world.