South Korea inks US$3.5 billion surface-to-air missile deal with UAE amid stronger defence ties
- President Moon Jae-in and his Emirati counterpart signed an MOU for the purchase of Seoul’s M-SAM medium-range air defence missile system
- Sheikh Mohammed posted photos of the meeting and said the UAE seeks ‘a comprehensive strategic economic partnership’ with South Korea
On a trip to the United Arab Emirates, the president of South Korea on Sunday reportedly reached a preliminary multibillion-dollar deal to sell Seoul’s surface-to-air missiles to Abu Dhabi and pledged deeper cooperation with the Gulf Arab federation.
After South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Emirati Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in Dubai, the countries signed a memorandum of understanding for the UAE’s purchase of a South Korean mid-range missile defence system valued at some US$3.5 billion, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
There were no further details on the deal announced during the visit nor immediate comment from the UAE. But during Dubai’s weeklong aviation trade show last November, the Emirati Ministry of Defence tweeted it planned to acquire South Korea’s M-SAM, an advanced air defence system designed to intercept missiles at altitudes below 40 kilometres (25 miles), saying it would “constitute a qualitative addition to the capabilities of the national air defence.”
Sheikh Mohammed posted photos of the meeting and said the UAE seeks “a comprehensive strategic economic partnership” with South Korea, one of the world’s top crude importers and financiers of energy projects.
The nations have strengthened their defence cooperation over the past decade, with South Korean elite special forces even travelling to the UAE to train Emirati troops in an unprecedented years-long deployment for the Asian country.
Meanwhile, the UAE has hosted hundreds of North Korean labourers in past years who provide a key revenue stream for Pyongyang. But under pressure to enforce US-led sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear programme, Abu Dhabi has recently moved to choke off the network and stopped renewing North Korean work visas.
From Dubai’s Expo 2020, where South Korea boasts a sprawling pavilion to showcase the country’s hi-tech and cultural achievements, President Moon praised the world’s fair and pledged the countries will “transcend generations and national borders to build back together and leap forward together.”
