South Korea President Moon Jae-in: PM Narendra Modi's new BFF?

"Together we succeed," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted in the Korean language within hours of Moon Jae-in's inauguration as South Korea President on May 10, last year.

He followed it up with a telephone call to President Moon a few hours later, becoming the fourth world leader, after US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to personally call Moon to congratulate him. Modi tweeted again about his phone call to "my friend" Moon.

The South Korean leader responded by welcoming PM Modi's Act East policy, which seeks close ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific. Barely a month later, Moon Jae-in dispatched his special envoy to New Delhi. It took place around the same time as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who held the Defence portfolio at the time, visited Seoul to conclude an economic cooperation agreement and review defence relations between India and South Korea.

Modi and Moon met for bilateral talks in July, on the margins of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July. The result? South Korea decides to upgrade its relationship with India to the level of its four other traditional partners under the new Asia community plus framework.

A good indication of growing ties between South Korea and India can be head from the fact that Hyundai, Samsung and LG are household names in India. South Korea's traditional food kimchi, made from fermented vegetables such as cabbage, and K-pop star PSY of Gangnam style fame are popular, too; but the dramatic upturn in ties did not happen overnight.