Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi received President Lee Jae Myung during his official visit to the Middle Eastern country on Thursday to discuss deeper bilateral ties, with the Korean president stressing the importance of peace in the Middle East and broader defense industry cooperation.
At a joint press conference held by the two leaders after the summit in Cairo, Lee described both South Korea and Egypt as “peace promoters” who jointly contribute to international peace, including the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East.
“I highly commend Egypt’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, and further promote peace in the Middle East,” Lee told reporters, adding he expressed his government’s commitment to continued cooperation with Egypt to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Before the summit, Lee recognized Egypt’s role in efforts to resolve the Israel-Hamas war over the past two years, describing the country as “a mediator that never gave up on resolving conflict through dialogue and showed diplomatic patience,” in a contribution to Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram on Thursday.
His visit to Egypt, which began late Wednesday, marks a crucial stop on his four-nation, 10-day trip as he seeks to reshape ties with the Middle East by broadening the scope of cooperation, especially in defense.
“I expressed my hope that the bilateral defense industry cooperation, represented by the joint production of the K-9 self-propelled howitzer,” Lee also said, expressing hopes that the ties could expand to the FA-50 light aircraft and the Cheongeom air-launched anti-tank guided missile, also known as Taigers.
In 2023, South Korea and Egypt signed a $1.66 billion deal to provide Korea-made K9 self-propelled howitzers, and South Korea has reportedly been in talks to sell FA-50 light combat aircraft to Egypt.
Lee’s visit followed a three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, and comes as South Korea and Egypt marked the 30th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties in April 1995. The two countries have maintained a comprehensive cooperative partnership since 2016.
Before Lee’s arrival in Cairo, South Korea and the UAE agreed to work together to pursue $15 billion in potential defense contracts in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America by jointly developing defense technologies and locally manufacturing equipment in the UAE.
This comes as South Korea — once buoyed by the construction boom in the Middle East decades ago — has in recent years broadened its ties with Middle Eastern countries to include nuclear energy, defense and advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Experts noted that their highlighting of defense ties with the Middle East is timely amid instability in the region.
Jang Ji-hyang, director of the Middle East and North Africa Center at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said Lee’s recent visits could allow South Korean defense industry players to distinguish themselves globally, as South Korea could uniquely position itself as an exporter of defense systems, not simply as an arms seller.
Moreover, given that defense cooperation with South Korea could involve knowledge-sharing, the announcement to work together as equal partners in the defense industry “comes at the right time from the perspective of Middle Eastern countries,” Jang said.
Sung Il-kwang, research professor at Sogang University’s Euro-MENA Institute, stressed the importance of South Korea’s approach to defense cooperation in the Middle East not being misunderstood as an attempt to fuel conflicts in the region.
“We should make it clear that we have zero intention to let conflict in the Middle East escalate through arms sales. … Instead, it would be desirable for South Korea to promote peace in the region and be ready to take on the role of building peace there,” Sung said.
He added that Lee’s speech on the diplomacy initiatives toward the Middle East at Cairo University would be “an unprecedented move” given the sensitivity of the matter, due to ongoing instability in the region.
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