South Korea’s arms procurement agency said Monday that its chief, Seok Jong-gun, visited the United Arab Emirates and Egypt last week to strengthen military ties and boost arms exports in the Middle East and North Africa.
In the UAE, Seok attended the IDEX 2025 defense exhibition in Abu Dhabi from Monday through Wednesday. During his visit, Seok met with Mohammed Al Mazrouei, minister of the UAE’s State for Defense Affairs, and Issa Saif Mohammed Al Mazrouei, chief of staff of the UAE Armed Forces, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
Discussions focused on expanding South Korea’s participation in defense projects across land, sea, air and missile defense sectors. Seok also held talks with Hamad Al Marar, CEO of EDGE Group, the UAE’s state-owned defense conglomerate, to explore bilateral cooperation in aerospace and advanced weapons development.
Seok’s UAE visit also included meetings with senior defense officials from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Estonia to strengthen cooperation in defense technology. During talks with Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Military Industries, South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding on a mutual government quality assurance program for exported arms.
Seok then traveled to Egypt, accompanied by officials from Korea Aerospace Industries and Hanwha Aerospace.
In Cairo, Seok met with Maj. Gen. Mohamed Adly Abdel Wahed, director of military power at Egypt’s Ministry of Defense, to discuss South Korea’s potential participation in Egypt’s future weapons systems development projects.
He also held talks with Egyptian Air Force Commander Mahmoud Fouad Abdel-Gawad, emphasizing South Korea’s commitment to providing full-scale support if Egypt proceeds with acquiring the FA-50 light combat aircraft, including training, maintenance and post-sale services.
“The visits to the UAE and Egypt reaffirmed the importance of strengthening defense cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa,” Seok said.
“The DAPA will consolidate all its capabilities to become one of the world’s top defense powers by strengthening tailored defense cooperation with key partner countries in each region.”
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