South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told a senior Saudi official in Seoul on Tuesday that his country is potentially a “best partner” to cooperate on a variety of issues of mutual interest, most prominently defense development and technology.
Yoon has prioritized the bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia since taking office in 2022, focusing particularly on selling Riyadh South Korean weapons and defense gear. Yoon became the first South Korean president to visit Saudi Arabia in 2023, cutting deals to both sell Korean technology and jointly develop new defense materials.
Yoon met with the head of the Saudi National Guard, Abdullah bin Bandar Al Saud, in the South Korean presidential office in Seoul on Tuesday, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. The Korean government put on a show for Abdullah before the meeting, organizing a display of novel weapons systems, an honor guard event, and what Yonhap referred to as an “integrated firepower drill.”
“The defense collaboration between the two countries would not only strengthen Saudi Arabia’s defense capabilities but deepen bilateral ties,” Yoon was quoted as saying during his meeting with the Saudi official, describing South Korea as Saudi Arabia’s “best partner.”
The South Korean Defense Ministry separately published photos of meetings between Abdullah and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who celebrated the two countries as “future strategic companions” and noted that Saudi Arabia is South Korea’s largest Mideast trade partner. Kim emphasized Yoon’s message of South Korea as a “best partner” to Saudi Arabia, particularly on military matters.
“Minister Kim Yong-hyun mentions that the Saudi Ministry of Defense and the Korean Defense Ministry are currently working together to introduce ground equipment,” the Defense Ministry noted, “and the Republic of Korea is the best partner for joint cooperation, such as joint research and development.”
The branding of South Korea as a “top” partner for Saudi Arabia is a unique feature of Yoon’s presidency designed to capitalize on the rift between Riyadh and the United States under outgoing President Joe Biden. Biden – who promised to turn Saudi Arabia, a longtime U.S. partner, into a “pariah” while campaigning for the presidency – cut off sales of offensive weapons to the country in 2021, leaving a significant void in the country’s defense demands.
“The defense industry is emerging as a blue ocean in our cooperation with Saudi Arabia,” Kim, then serving as Yoon’s national security adviser, said during Yoon’s trip to Saudi Arabia in 2023. “Large-scale defense industry cooperation discussions are in the final stage, in various areas such as antiaircraft defense systems and firearms.”
During that visit, Yoon described South Korea as an “optimal partner” for the Saudis not just in defense, but in the “post-oil era” generally, including in developing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” strategy. “Vision 2030” is a holistic plan to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil that includes massive urban development, including the construction of the entirely new “green” city of Neom. South Korean companies have gotten in on the ground floor of Neom development, including major global corporations such as Hyundai. Mohammad bin Salman, the de facto leader of the country, agreed with Yoon’s assessment of his country as a viable collaborator.
While Yoon emphasized cooperation outside of the fossil fuel industry, in December 2023, the publication Energy Intelligence reported a dramatic surge of South Korean purchases of Saudi crude oil in the months following Yoon’s visit to the country. By February, the two countries were openly announcing defense deals, including a memorandum of understanding on jointly developing weapons technology.
“South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and Saudi defense ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to pave the way for cooperation in the defense industry and joint weapons development,” Yonhap reported at the time. “Under the MOU, the two sides will launch a bilateral committee to jointly conduct research and development of weapons systems for continued cooperation in the defense industry, DAPA said.”
The Saudi government also purchased South Korea’s Cheongung M-SAM II surface-to-air missile system that month, worth $3.2 billion and an increasingly popular option for Middle East nations. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) purchased the Cheongung II system from South Korea in January 2022 for $3.5 billion.
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