South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol slammed for calling Iran the ‘enemy and biggest threat’ to UAE

The South Korean leader is again in hot water for a gaffe that critics say could send the wrong message that the nation sees Iran as a potential enemy
Iran has slammed Yoon’s remarks as ‘interventionist’ and ‘invalid’, and demanded an explanation from Seoul

South Korea

Park Chan-kyong

Published: 5:17pm, 17 Jan 2023

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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, often accused by critics of being prone to gaffes, has ruffled feathers on his trip to Abu Dhabi by saying that the UAE’s “enemy and biggest threat is Iran”, even as the two Middle East nations sought to improve ties.

Yoon made the comment while speaking to the 147 South Korean soldiers stationed in the United Arab Emirates since 2011, and compared UAE-Iran relations to that of South and North Korea.

“The security of the UAE, which is our brother nation, is our security,” Yoon told the troops. “The UAE’s enemy and biggest threat is Iran, while our enemy is North Korea … We are in a very similar position to the UAE.”

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Iran slammed Yoon’s remarks as “interventionist” and “invalid”, and demanded an explanation from Seoul.

Nasser Kan’ani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, said Yoon’s comments “reveal his complete unawareness of the historical and cordial relations between Iran and the Persian Gulf littoral countries, including the UAE”.

They also reflected Yoon’s poor knowledge of “high-speed and positive developments in this regard”, he added.

“The Foreign Ministry is diligently pursuing the recent positions of this country, especially the remarks made by its president, on the relations between Iran and the UAE, which totally lack diplomatic validity,” the spokesman said, according to Iran’s Press TV.

Yoon (centre, 2nd row) and his wife Kim Keon-hee (6th from left, 2nd row) pictured with a contingent of the Akh unit in the UAE. The Akh unit has been carrying out various missions since 2011. Photo: EPA-EFE

South Korea’s foreign ministry scrambled to clarify that Yoon’s remarks were merely a morale booster for the South Korean troops in the UAE.

“The remarks had nothing to do with country-on-country relations involving Iran or others and we hope the remarks are not over-interpreted,” it said in a statement.

Kim Joon-hyung, former head of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, told This Week in Asia that the gaffe was humiliating for all parties. “Yoon’s remarks were not welcomed either by the UAE or Iran. This is something embarrassing to both countries,” Kim said.

In South Korea, the liberal opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) called Yoon’s first overseas trip this year a “diplomatic disaster” which sent the wrong message that Seoul viewed Iran as a potential enemy.

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Since forging diplomatic ties with Iran in 1962, Seoul has maintained “friendly and cooperative ties” with Tehran, and its “commitment to continue developing the friendly bilateral relations with Iran remains firm”, the South Korean foreign ministry said.

Iran has urged Seoul for months to return about US$7 billion of assets frozen at South Korean banks that South Korea owes for oil imports from the Middle East country due to US-led sanctions.

Iran was one of the largest suppliers of oil and condensate to South Korea before Washington reinstated its sanctions in 2018.

Critics say Yoon’s propensity for blunders has threatened to spill over to diplomacy and security issues.

South Korea’s liberal opposition Democratic Party of Korea has said Yoon’s gaffe on his first overseas trip this year sent a wrong message that South Korea considered Iran as a potential enemy. Photo: AFP

Earlier this month, Yoon sparked controversy when he said that South Korea and the US were “discussing a plan for operating US nuclear capabilities based on a joint planning and exercise concept”.

“While the nuclear weapons belong to the US, South Korea and the US need to share information and conduct joint planning and exercises,” he said in an interview with a local newspaper, adding that the US had “expressed a fairly positive position”.

When asked by reporters at the White House if he was currently discussing joint nuclear exercises with South Korea, US President Joe Biden said “no”, according to Reuters.

A US administration official also reportedly said that “regular nuclear exercises would be ‘extremely difficult’ because South Korea is not a nuclear power”.

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Yoon’s presidential office and the defence ministry said his remarks were based on an agreement reached at the annual US-South Korea military meeting, the Security Consultative Meeting, last November.

In December, after North Korean surveillance drones entered the South, Yoon called for the creation of a military drone unit, though South Korea launched such a unit in 2018.

In September, Yoon was caught on a hot mic over his allegedly disparaging remarks about key ally the US, at the Global Fund in New York where Biden had just pledged US$6 billion.

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As a presidential candidate in 2021, Yoon also said that most South Koreans, especially young Koreans, “don’t like China”.

“Despite his short experience as a politician, President Yoon likes to make offhand statements on whatever he feels like to say,” Choi Jin, a political commentator, told This Week in Asia.

“It will take time for him to understand his unscripted, off-the-cuff remarks could spark diplomatic ripples and hurt the country’s national interests.”