Yoon’s chief of staff given royal treatment in UAE
![Kim Dae-ki, left, the presidential chief of staff, speaks with United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a four-day visit from Sunday to Wednesday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/12/14/46b7e316-5449-4e1f-92a0-432d58168d0c.jpg)
Kim Dae-ki, left, the presidential chief of staff, speaks with United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a four-day visit from Sunday to Wednesday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]
President Yoon Suk-yeol’s chief of staff, Kim Dae-ki, delivered a letter to the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) calling for more strategic cooperation between the two countries.
Starting Sunday, Kim was on a four-day official visit to the UAE as a special presidential envoy. He paid a courtesy call on UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to Yoon’s office Wednesday.
In his letter, Yoon expressed a wish to upgrade bilateral relations with the UAE, “the only Middle Eastern country that Korea has a special strategic partnership with,” said the presidential office in a statement.
The UAE president said that the relationship between the countries is “very special,” and that his country will “always stand by Korea’s side unfalteringly.”
Some 150 key figures, including members of the royal family, cabinet and Federal National Council, were present during Kim’s meeting with the UAE president, said the presidential office. Kim attended a royal majlis, “sitting room” in Arabic, a central ritual of Emirati social life and a place to discuss a range of political and economic issues.
Kim also met with Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi, to discuss ways to increase cooperation in nuclear power, energy, investment and defense.
Former President Moon Jae-in set the precedent of sending of his chief of staff as a special envoy to the UAE and Lebanon in 2017.
At the time, the purpose of Im Jong-seok’s visit was said to be to boost the morale of Korean troops in the area. The real mission was to smooth over a glitch in a secret agreement on military support between the Lee Myung-bak administration and the UAE.
The disagreement was solved and the Moon administration upgraded its relationship with the UAE to a “special strategic partnership” in a bilateral summit in Abu Dhabi in March 2018.
The reason for Kim’s visit this week was less furtive and more transparently about economic cooperation. He was accompanied by an industrial policy aide, rather than defense and foreign affairs aides.
As the UAE is a monarchy, it prefers a “direct line of communication with the president,” according to a senior presidential official.
The UAE visit comes as the administration tries to export more nuclear power plant projects and arms.
Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the construction site of a new nuclear power plant in the UAE last week. Samsung C&T is part of a Korean consortium building the project, the Barakah nuclear energy plant in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s first nuclear power plant.
Last week, the UAE Central Bank released a new AED1,000 note as part of the country’s National Day celebrations which had an image of the Barakah nuclear energy plant on the back. The plant is central to the UAE’s goal of diversifying its energy sources and reducing carbon emissions.
Last month, President Yoon and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud held a summit in Seoul and pledged to greater cooperation in defense, energy and infrastructure. The two leaders agreed to cooperate in megacity projects like Neom, the crown prince’s $500 billion urban project first proposed in 2017.
Separately, Korean Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Jung Sang-hwa made a visit to the UAE last week for talks with senior defense officials on arms 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 with Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi, who visited Seoul as a presidential envoy.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]