“I feel that the scenario within the Center East is altering very quickly relating to geopolitics,” stated June Park, a fellow with the Worldwide Technique Discussion board at Schmidt Futures. “So Korea desires to ensure a few of the strategic partnerships and the elements … with the UAE.”
Yoon arrived at Qasr Al Watan palace in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. He was greeted by Emirati chief Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who took workplace in Might after serving because the nation’s de facto ruler for years.
An honor guard of historically dressed Emiratis greeted Yoon and his spouse, Kim Keon Hee. They twirled mannequin Lee-Enfield rifles alongside troops on camelback and horseback. Inside, a army band performed the South Korean and Emirati nationwide anthems.
After the ceremony, Yonhap quoted Sheikh Mohammed as saying the UAE deliberate to speculate $30 billion in South Korea. “We determined to make the funding with confidence within the Republic of Korea that retains its guarantees underneath all circumstances,” he stated.
The report didn’t elaborate.
Whereas energy-hungry South Korea does depend on the Emirates for just below 10% of its crude oil provide, Seoul has struck a sequence of offers far past oil with this nation of seven sheikhdoms that intently tie the nation to Abu Dhabi. South Korea’s commerce with the UAE is into the billions of {dollars} price of vehicles, materials and different items.
Earlier than Yoon’s journey, officers described the go to as searching for to solidify the ties already in place between the 2 international locations.
“This go to will strengthen strategic cooperation with our brother nation UAE within the 4 core cooperative sectors of nuclear energy, vitality, funding and protection,” stated Kim Sung-han, director of nationwide safety in Yoon’s authorities.
On Saturday, South Korea’s Yonhap information company quoted an nameless presidency official as additionally saying that an arms deal was deliberate.
“The environment is extraordinarily ripe for safety or army cooperation between South Korea and the UAE involving the arms trade,” the official stated, in line with Yonhap.
Already, South Korea reached a $3.5 billion cope with the UAE in 2022 to promote the M-SAM, a sophisticated air protection system designed to intercept missiles at altitudes under 40 kilometers (25 miles). Emirati officers have grown more and more involved about defending their airspace after being focused in long-range drone assaults by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Whereas U.S. forces fired Patriot missiles for the primary time in fight for the reason that 2003 Iraq invasion to defend Abu Dhabi throughout these assaults, the Emiratis have been hedging their reliance on American army assist since America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
However South Korea’s largest venture stays the Barakah nuclear energy plant, Seoul’s first try and construct atomic reactors overseas. The $20 billion facility, which in the end could have 4 reactors, is within the UAE’s western deserts close to the Saudi border and at some point will account for practically 1 / 4 of the entire Emirates’ energy wants.
It’s additionally key to the UAE’s plans to go carbon impartial by 2050, a pledge that takes on particular significance as it prepares to host the United Nations COP28 local weather negotiations starting in November in Dubai.
Yoon possible desires to guarantee the Emiratis that South Korea desires to be within the operating for profitable upkeep contracts after his predecessor, President Moon Jae-in, had stated Seoul needed to maneuver away from nuclear vitality.
“The vitality coverage took on a 180 diploma shift” after the election, stated Park, the analyst. “So Korea is now for nuclear and I suppose that the Yoon administration desires to ensure to the Emiratis that there isn’t a concern concerning coverage shifts or something like that.”
Then there’s additionally the nuclear tensions with North Korea. Yoon, a former high prosecutor, turned president in Might on a promise to take a tougher line on Pyongyang. Up till latest years, lots of of North Korean laborers have been believed to be working within the UAE and elsewhere within the Gulf Arab states, providing a money stream to Pyongyang because it seeks to evade mounting sanctions over its nuclear program.
Nevertheless, a crackdown has seen their numbers drastically drop as nations stopped renewing their visas. A latest U.N. professional report did observe that high-end digicam gear purchased within the UAE ended up in North Korea, whereas one other talked about a North Korean nationwide dwelling in Dubai acquiring international forex by a web based app by mendacity about his nationality.
The U.N. additionally stated as not too long ago as 2021 it had details about North Korean diplomats in Iran flying on Dubai-based long-haul provider Emirates smuggling gold with them.
Observe Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
