SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol returned home Thursday from a trip to Saudi Arabia and Qatar with a range of deals under his belt, notably on energy.
The outcome of the trip “raises hope for [a] second Middle East business boom,” wrote Yonhap, Seoul’s partly state-owned news wire.
South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s earned massive amounts of hard currency via construction projects in the Middle East, fueling its rise as a global economic force. The country remains a heavy industry powerhouse, as well as a net energy importer, which is heavily reliant on Middle East suppliers.
Mr. Yoon’s trip was heavily focused on a strategic commodity that is, since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, increasingly sensitive. He also followed up on prior deals to provide arms and training to regional powers while adroitly sidestepping the deadly frictions currently besetting the Middle East.
Among a welter of preliminary deals was an actual contract between Seoul’s state-run Korea National Oil Corp. and Saudi Arabia’s state-run energy giant Saudi Aramco. A Yonhap report said that the agreement will reportedly create a joint crude oil reserve of 5.3 million barrels in Ulsan, a South Korean industrial center producing petrochemicals, cars and ships.
Another win was a $3.9 billion contract between South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and Qatar’s state-owned petroleum company QatarEnergy for the construction of 17 liquefied natural gas carriers, or supertankers.
That would mark the biggest shipbuilding contract ever signed by a South Korean yard, Yonhap reported. South Korea’s shipbuilding industry is in fierce competition with lower-cost Chinese rivals.
The preliminary deals included accords on smart farming, solar energy, driverless cars, cultural content, medical services and finance – but there were strategic agreements signed, too.
In Doha, Qatar, Mr. Yoon and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani agreed to upgrade the two countries’ relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” — including strengthened cooperation in both defense and defense industries.
South Korea’s arms industry is expanding as a result of a spike in demand following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with Seoul supplying NATO member Poland with tanks, self-propelled artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems and jet warplanes in a deal that may be worth $18 billion.
But South Korea is not a new player to the sector, nor to the region. In 2009, Seoul and UAE agreed to cooperate on the construction of South Korea-built nuclear power plants in a deal originally estimated at $40 billion.
While the 2009 deal, signed by a conservative South Korean administration, was widely criticized at the time, a subsequent $3.5 billion sale of South Korean anti-air/anti-drone defense systems was signed by a liberal Korean president in January 2021.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.