Yoon’s chief of staff gets royal treatment in UAE

Chief of Staff to the President Kim Dae-ki, left, talks with United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his four-day visit from Sunday to Wednesday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

Kim Dae-ki, President Yoon’s chief of staff, sent a letter to the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), calling on the two countries to strengthen strategic cooperation.

Kim Jong-un is on a four-day official visit to the UAE starting Sunday as the president’s special envoy. Yoon paid a courtesy call on UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to his office on Wednesday.

In the letter, Yoon expressed his desire to enhance bilateral relations with the UAE and that “South Korea is the only Middle Eastern country with which South Korea has a special strategic partnership,” the president’s office said in a statement.

The UAE president said the relationship between the two countries was “very special” and that the UAE would “always stand firmly by South Korea’s side”.

Around 150 key figures, including members of the royal family, the cabinet and members of the Federal National Assembly, were present during Kim’s meeting with the UAE president, the presidential office said. King attended the Royal Council, Arabic for “living room”, a ritual at the heart of Emirati social life and a venue for discussing a range of political and economic issues.

Kim also met Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Abu Dhabi’s administrative affairs bureau, to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in nuclear power, energy, investment and defence.

In 2017, President Moon Jae-in took the lead in sending a chief of staff to visit the UAE and Lebanon as a special envoy.

At the time, it was said that the purpose of Im’s trip was to boost the morale of South Korean troops stationed in the area. The real task is to iron out a glitch in a secret agreement between Lee Myung-bak’s government and the UAE over military support.

The differences were resolved, and Moon’s government upgraded relations with the UAE to a “special strategic partnership” at a bilateral summit in Abu Dhabi in March 2018.

The reasons for Kim’s visit this week are less secretive and more transparent in terms of economic cooperation. He was accompanied by an industrial policy aide, not a defense and foreign affairs aide.

A senior presidential official said that because the UAE is a monarchy, it prefers “direct communication with the president”.

The UAE trip comes as the government tries to export more nuclear power plant projects and weapons.

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee visited the construction site of a new nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates last week. Samsung C&T is part of the Korean consortium building the project, the UAE’s first nuclear power plant, Abu Dhabi’s Barakah Nuclear Power Plant.

Last week, the UAE Central Bank issued a new 1,000-dirham note with an image of the Barakah nuclear power plant on the back as part of the country’s National Day celebrations. The plant is central to the UAE’s goals to diversify its energy sources and reduce its carbon emissions.

President Yoon and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud held a summit in Seoul last month and pledged to strengthen cooperation on defence, energy and infrastructure. The two leaders agreed to cooperate on megacity projects such as Neom, the $500 billion urban project first proposed by the crown prince in 2017.

Separately, South Korea’s Air Force chief, Adm. Chung Sang-hwa, visited the United Arab Emirates last week for talks with senior defense officials on weapons cooperation.

In May, a newly elected Yoon sent People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Chang Je-won as a special envoy to attend the funeral of UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

In September, Yoon met Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Abu Dhabi’s Administrative Affairs Bureau, who was visiting Seoul as the president’s special envoy.

Sarah King [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]