New Delhi: India is making significant progress in every aspect of things and the G20 presidency will boost New Delhi's global status and power, South Korean Ambassador Chang Jae Bok said on Monday.

In an interview with ANI, Chang said, "India is really making great progress in every aspect of things. And especially this presidency of G20 will boost India's global status and power."

Talking about the walking Buddhist pilgrimage which is being organized by the Sangwol Society of South Korea, Chang said that this is for the first time that they will walk on foot and will cover nearly 1200km.

"Also, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between India and Korea. And also India is the G-20 President, So it will be a momentous year for the bilateral relations between India and Korea. So the Korean pilgrimage is the first big event. And so I'm very happy to be part of this kick-off event for strengthening our bilateral ties," he said.

He further stated that India is important to Korea. Since 2015, India-Korea became a special strategic partner and both countries are working very hard to upgrade the bilateral relations.

The Buddhist pilgrims will be on a 43-day tour to Buddhist holy sites in India and Nepal from 9th February to 23rd March 2023. With the slogan 'Oh, We! Oh, Love! Oh, Life!', the pilgrimage, organized by Sangwol Society, aims to spread the Buddhist culture of devotional activities through a pilgrimage to India where the life and footsteps of the Buddha are preserved.

Chang said that the most significant thing is to enhance people-to-people contact and cultural exchanges which will result into deepening not only for political or economic but bilateral relations in the long term.

"And India emerging as the global power, Korea will be a very good partner for the advancement of India, for the social and economic development. Korea has the know-how and experience for the development of the economy and society. So we will be very glad to be a good partner for India's advancement and progress," the Korean envoy said.

"India and Korea have good things like Buddhist connections. So, in the first century, Buddhist monks from India came to the Korean Peninsula. So in the minds of Korean people, Buddhism is there. And even though the number of religions for Buddhism is not a majority, but still one-fifth of the Korean population is Buddhist. So that is the great element to connect Korean people and Indian people," he added.