South Korea's growing ties with Saudi Arabia and the UAE

South Korean defense firms have been slowly expanding their presence in the Middle East over the years. According to industry sources, recent successful export of guided munitions, artillery systems, and aircraft to the region and beyond helped foster positive image to existing and potential customers. Owing to these success, South Korea became the 11th largest arms exporter in 2014~2018 period and earned the interests of multiple regional customers.

Saudi Arabia's interest in South Korea

In 2016, Saudi Arabia launched Saudi Vision 2030, an ambitious plan that would significantly reduce its economic dependance on oil and foster growth in various industries to diversify its economy. Improving the domestic defense industry is part of such vision and Saudi Arabia plans to increase its self-reliance rate from 2% to 50% by negotiating local production and co-development with foreign partners. 

Due to Saudi Arabia's lack of existing infrastructure, it plans on pursuing its vision by starting with the basics: localization of ammunition and combat vehicles. Saudi Arabia is currently searching for a partner nation that could meet Saudi Army's demands for variety of mechanized assets and ammunition. The Saudi government is pursuing a government-to-government deal because of its lack of experience in managing systemic defense development. In short, it's looking for a partner nation that can deliver 'everything,' such as IFV, MBT, and SPH, on a silver platter. 

The United States still remains Saudi Arabia's most important defense partner, but they have been at odds due to various geopolitical issues. The Obama administration refused sales of JDAM in 2015, citing civilian deaths in the ongoing Yemeni Civil War. South Korea grabbed this opportunity to provide KGGB (Korea GPS-Guided Bomb), even delivering those already in ROKAF inventory to meet immedate Saudi requirement. The US also refused to sell Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), which Saudi Arabia remedied by acquiring Raybolt ATGMs from South Korea.

KGGB in Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) inventory.

Saudi officials were reportedly satisfied with South Korean arms and are actively seeking greater level of defense-related cooperation as part of Saudi Vision 2030.

In the latest example of such development, Saudi Arabia expressed 'high-level interest' in potentially acquiring 300 K2 Black Panther main battle tanks from South Korea. According to industry sources, K2 has been conducting tests in Saudi Arabia with favorable results. The K2 also conducted rigorous desert trials in Oman in July 2018, which included a 600km cross-country trial. It successfully completed the trial while its main competitor, the Turkish Altay, reportedly broke down in the middle of testing. That very K2 which participated in Omani trial was displayed during DX Korea 2018.

Desert variant of the K2 Black Panther main battle tank.

Initially, Western Europea and the US were considered by Saudi Arabia, but the former's vulnerability to domestic pressure (IE: unwillingness to sell KSA arms over the recent Khashoggi scandal) and the latter's reluctance towards technology transfer put South Korea in the limelight.

As stated above, Saudi Arabia is looking for a partner nation that could systemically build its land-based defense industry from ground up. Agreement for hundreds, if not thousands, of new combat vehicles, precision guided munitions, and air defense systems could be reached with said partner nation in the near future. The US, while technologically capable, is unlikely to be a candidate since the entire driving force behind Saudi Arabia's effort is to reduce its dependance on the US. Neither UK nor France are producing new tanks, and Germany is refusing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.

South Korea, however, seems eager to negotiate local production, technology transfer, and co-development as it has done with other customers in the past. It's also one of the very few countries that are actively mass-producing and developing land-based systems every year. President Moon Jae-in's administration has made its 'self-reliant defense' policy abundantly clear and is actively encouraging arms export. Armed with decades of experience and government support, South Korean defense firms have the potential to be a strong presence in the Gulf region.

As to illustrate this point, South Korea and Saudi Arabia began negotiating towards a strategic military agreement last Feburary. South Korean interest in Saudi Arabia lies in export of arms and nuclear reactors. South Korea's part of the agreement remains a mystery, but it most likely revolves around South Korean economic and military support for Saudi Vision 2030.

This kind of agreement is very similar to an agreement reached by South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during Lee Myung-bak's administration. Moon Jae-in's administration brought the previous agreement to public spotlight and criticized its opponents for signing such strategic agreement without the consent of the National Assembly. The scandal temporarily caused a rift between South Korea and UAE until lapses in communication were straightened out. In fact, the recent negotiation wit Saudi Arabia was suggested and encouraged by UAE.

United Arab Emirates' interest in South Korea

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nayhan of United Arab Emirates visited South Korea in May 2010. During his state visit, he attended demonstration held by members of the Republic of Korea Army Special Warfare Command. After witnessing the demonstration, he promptly requested that South Korea send its Special Forces units to train and advise UAE's own Special Operations Forces and Presidential Guard Unit. South Korea accepted the request and on January 11th, 2011, 150-man contingent from Army Special Warfare Command formed the UAE military cooperation unit (UAE 군사협력단), nicknamed "Akh" unit (아크부대), and deployed to UAE with a mission of "training with UAE forces and protecting citizens abroad." Members of Navy's Special Warfare Flotilla, commonly known as UDT/SEAL, would soon join the unit. With this agreement, strategic partnership between South Korea and UAE took its root.

Akh Unit member training his UAE counterpart.

Unkown to the public at the time, however, this seemingly straightforward agreement between two nations held deeper implications. What seemed like a simple agreement to train and cooperate with friendly forces was not a spur-of-the-moment decision by UAE's crown prince as media had reported. The ruling circle of South Korean presidency at the time kept large majority of the agreement's detail from the public and the National Assembly.

In truth, the agreement was a highly sensitive one closely tied with both states' national security. The agreement contained a clause in which South Korea would be required to commit combat troops and provide military equipment during crisis. President Lee Myung-bak and his closest advisors had kept this secret amongst themselves and used it as a leverage to successfully export nuclear reactors to UAE.

When the UAE called for South Korean military invovlement in the Yemeni Civil War, the undiscplosed military pact was brought into public spotlight and Moon Jae-in administration tried to salvage the situation by renegotiating the agreement. While exact details of the renegotiation is unknown, it is said that current South Korea-UAE relationship is that of a positive one. It is most likely that South Korea is now providing indirect military support by supporting the UAE's domestic arms industry. 

12 K239 Chunmoo MRLS (left) were sold to UAE.

The UAE, like Saudi Arabia, is looking for a partner nation to develop its arms industry. Having successfully renegotiated its terms of military partnership with South Korea, it is very likely that the UAE will call upon South Korean defense firms for future collaborations.

Saudi Arabia and UAE's efforts to move away from oil-dependant economy and to increase levels of military self-sufficiency have provided South Korea with an unprecedented opportunity. South Korea's potential involvement in systemic reformation of these nations' armed forces and defense industries would not only help promote and expand its own defense industry, but also provide more opportunity for it to pursue independent projects outside of the limited government funding.