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Seoul and Abu Dhabi are dialing up their strategic partnership — this time with a USD 65 bn pipeline of joint projects, South Korean news agency Yonhap reports, citing South Korean Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik.
The two sides inked a USD 35 bn MoU on defense cooperation, which “marks a shift beyond a simple buyer-seller relationship and toward cooperation across the full defense industry cycle, from design and training to maintenance and repair,” Kang said. This would span anti-air systems, air force, and naval capabilities.
Beyond defense, previously pledged capital is also being repositioned. Mubadala’s previously climate and energy-focused USD 30 bn pledge is now earmarked for cooperation in other areas including nuclear energy, AI, advanced tech, and culture, with working groups tasked with turning pledges into contracts before the next summit. On nuclear, that means expanding collaboration beyond Barakah and into other countries supply, plant maintenance, AI-enabled operations, and joint overseas expansion.
BACKGROUND- This builds on the 2024 comprehensive economic partnership agreement signed between the two countries, and the 19 MoUs spanning energy, defense, tech, and climate — alongside the Mubadala commitment — which eliminated tariffs on over 90% of traded goods and hardwired cooperation across nuclear, LNG shipping, hydrogen, and defense. Since then, energy financing is tightening the bond further, most recently via a USD 2 bn green loan for Adnoc backed by South Korea’s export credit agency.
Why it matters: The UAE is widening its bench — reducing single-source reliance in defense and nuclear while positioning South Korea as a core industrial partner. And it cuts both ways: as US tech guardrails tighten, Abu Dhabi and Seoul are leaning into each other on AI and advanced manufacturing. South Korea has already signed onto the UAE’s 5 GW Stargate AI data campus, and a broader bilateral AI investment framework is in the works, UAE State Minister Saeed bin Mubarak Al Hajeri previously indicated.
