S. Korea, Saudi sign additional MOU for 21 trillion won

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol who is on a state visit to Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud signed an economic memorandum of understanding (MOU) worth 15.6 U.S. billion dollars following their summit meeting. It is a separate agreement from 26 MOUs worth 29 billion dollars signed during the crown prince’s visit to South Korea in November last year. The new MOU reflects the trust and determination for cooperation between the two leaders to expand bilateral cooperation from traditional energy to clean energy and hydrogen, as well as infrastructure and security. As conflicts between Israel and Palestinian Hamas escalated, Korea National Oil Corporation decided to store 5.3 million barrels of crude oil from Aramco in the Ulsan storage center to strengthen energy cooperation between the two countries.

President Yoon, who visited Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on Saturday (local time) as the first South Korean president to visit the city, attended an official welcome ceremony, summit meeting, luncheon, and exchange ceremony of agreement and MOU with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the day. With the two leaders in presence, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy and the Saudi Arabian government signed an agreement for the Hydrogen Oasis cooperation initiative and the implementation program to reinforce statistical cooperation. “Bilateral cooperation will be supported systematically through working groups for each phase of the value chain from clean hydrogen production to distribution and utilization,” said Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok. Over 50 MOUs have been signed between businesses on energy, high-tech, manufacturing, finance, and culture.

The two leaders also reportedly discussed the war between Israel and Hamas and international peace and security issues. “As Saudi Arabia has been firmly supporting non-proliferation on the international stage, South Korea will proactively cooperate with the country to obstruct North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations and their development,” the South Korean president said about cooperation on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons.


Kwan-Seok Jang jks@donga.com