About The India-Korea Forum (IKF)

The India–Korea Forum (IKF) is a leading and dedicated platform committed to strengthening India–Korea collaboration through research, dialogue, policy engagement, and youth exchange.

IKF strives to bring together all key stakeholders—including academia, business communities, policymakers, and young talent—on a single platform to elevate India–Korea relations to the next level.

Through initiatives in education, talent mobility, technology cooperation, and strategic dialogue, IKF aims to foster meaningful partnerships and long-term collaboration between the two countries.

About Founder & Director

Prof. Rajiv Kumar is the Founder & Director of the India–Korea Forum, based in Seoul, South Korea. Prof. Kumar brings over 15 years of experience in teaching, research, and international collaboration at leading global universities.

Born in India (Bihar), he pursued his academic training at the University of Delhi (India), the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (USA), and Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea). He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Sungkyunkwan University, a top-100 global university.. He also received formal Korean language training at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. He is a recipient of two prestigious fellowships—Brain Korea 21 (BK21) and Humanities Korea (HK)—supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).

He has served as a Research Professor at the Institute of Indian Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies; a Visiting Professor at the Academy of East Asian Studies, Sungkyunkwan University; and an Affiliated Scholar at the East–West Center (USA). He also serves as the Founding Managing Editor of the Journal of Indian and Asian Studies (World Scientific, Singapore).

Prof. Kumar has published more than 25 research articles in leading international journals. His research focuses on international relations, political economy, and the tech geopolitics and geoeconomics of emerging technologies. His recent work has appeared in Third World Quarterly (SSCI-indexed), Korean Journal of Defense Analysis (SSCI-indexed), International Area Studies Review (Scopus-indexed), Korean Journal of International Studies (Scopus-indexed), and Journal of Indian and Asian Studies.

Beyond academia, Prof. Kumar has extensive professional experience working with the corporate sector in Korea. He has collaborated with major Korean companies, engaging in global strategy and marketing initiatives. He has also been actively engaged in consulting work for the business sector, particularly in the areas of trade, investment, technology strategy, and global talent mobility. He is a former Global Trade Ambassador for Korea International Trade Association (KITA).