In 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. It was marketed as a non-aggression pact. However, the deal had many secret clauses, such as the division of Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
While murmurs about such secret clauses existed in the diplomatic circles, the world came to know about the full scope of these secret clauses only after the end of the Second World War and Germany’s defeat.
Wars, as the saying goes, ‘reveal people’s true character.’ However, wars often also reveal the true scope and depth of defense agreements and partnerships between two states.
During the 1971 India-Pakistan War, both the US and the Soviet Union went one step ahead in backing Islamabad and New Delhi, respectively.
The US sent its Seventh fleet’s Task Force 74, led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, to break the Indian Navy’s naval blockade of East Pakistan, and the Soviet Union dispatched a naval task force from its Pacific Fleet, including groups of cruisers, destroyers, support ships, and even a nuclear-armed submarine, to shadow and deter the US fleet.
Similarly, the June 2025 India-Pakistan War revealed the extent to which China was willing to go to support Islamabad, reportedly providing crucial intelligence support with live position details of Indian military assets, diplomatic support at international forums, and military equipment, including the longer-range domestic version of the PL-15 that might have been crucial in downing Indian Air Force (IAF) jets.
The ongoing Iran War is also revealing the true scope of defense partnerships between various countries.
While many defense experts have discussed the possibility of Russia helping Iran overcome key missile-technology hurdles, such as cluster munitions, and China providing intelligence support, one evolving defense partnership that has flown under the radar for many years has been between the UAE and South Korea.
The Iran War, which is now in its third week, is revealing the true depth of the defense partnership between Seoul and Abu Dhabi.
The Evolving South Korea and the UAE Defense Partnership
South Korea’s profile as a reliable defense exporter has been rising for some years.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), South Korea’s arms export volumes more than doubled over the last 15 years, elevating the country to the world’s 10th-largest exporter of major arms in 2020–24 and expanding its global market share from 0.9 percent to 2.2 percent.
Over the same period, four South Korean companies—including Korea Aerospace Industries—featured in the SIPRI Top 100 arms producers for 2024, with their combined arms revenues rising by roughly 30 percent in 2023–24.
The Middle East, and the Gulf in particular, has emerged as a key driver of this expansion.
Between 2021 and 2025, Seoul secured major contracts across the region, including K9 self-propelled howitzers for Egypt; Cheongung-II (KM-SAM) air defense systems for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq; K239 Chunmoo rocket launchers for the UAE and Saudi Arabia; and T-50 advanced trainers for Iraq.
However, even within the Gulf region, the UAE is emerging as a major destination for South Korean arms.
Between 2021 and 2025, the UAE was the third-largest recipient of South Korean arms, accounting for 9.5% of South Korea’s overall arms exports.
In the coming years, this arms trade between the two countries is set to rise manifold.
On February 26, just two days before the start of the Iran War, South Korea and the UAE signed an ambitious agreement worth US$65 billion, including US$35 billion defense deal.
The defense projects will span anti-air defense, the air force, and the navy, Kang Hoon-sik, who is President Lee Jae Myung’s chief of staff, told reporters.
Chief Kang further stated, “The two countries have agreed to move beyond a simple buyer-seller relationship in weapons and cooperate across the entire lifecycle of the defense industry, from design to education, training, and maintenance. To this end, they signed a ‘Defense Industry Cooperation Framework MOU’ that outlines these cooperation principles.”
The Combat-Debut of South Korean Air Defense Systems
In 2022, the UAE agreed to procure ten Cheongung-II medium-range surface-to-air missile batteries under a landmark US$3.5 billion contract.
The Cheongung-II was to provide the UAE with layered air defense as the country already operated two THAAD batteries and multiple Patriot air defense systems.
While Cheongung-II was developed to counter North Korean missiles, it made its combat debut against the Iranian missiles and drones. The system has a maximum range of around 40km (25 miles) and can engage targets at altitudes below 15km (nine miles).
After a strong combat debut, the system reportedly shot down 96 per cent of targets, the UAE wanted more interceptors on an emergency basis, and Seoul did not disappoint Abu Dhabi.
However, what set this emergency delivery of interceptors apart was that Seoul even delivered interceptors drawn directly from its own operational reserves.
The airlift was conducted using a Republic of Korea Air Force C-17 strategic transport, after approximately 30 interceptor missiles were drawn directly from South Korea’s own operational reserves.
Notably, South Korea delivered interceptor missiles to the UAE from its own reserves at a critical time, when the US had already withdrawn some key missile defense assets from the region, including THAAD and Patriot systems.
The removal of these assets has already left South Korea vulnerable to North Korean missile threats, and questions were raised about Washington’s commitment to South Korea’s security amid the Iran War.
South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung told a cabinet meeting that Seoul had opposed the redeployment of US artillery batteries and air-defence units.
Supplying the UAE with interceptors from its own reserves at a time when the US has already withdrawn its air defense assets from the country shows Seoul’s commitment to the UAE.
“South Korea chose to prioritise rapid delivery of interceptor missiles from existing stocks rather than expedite delivery of complete batteries, as production was still tied to other export commitments as well as its own domestic defence needs,” a Defense Security Asia report said.
KF-21 Factor in South Korea-UAE
Incidentally, the UAE is also considering buying the South Korean fighter jet, the KF-21 Boramae.
Last year, UAE Defense Undersecretary Ibrahim Nasser Mohammed Al Alawi climbed into a South Korean KF-21 Boramae prototype for a symbolic “friendship flight” over Sacheon Air Base in South Korea.
A few months later, during President Lee Jae-myung’s visit to Abu Dhabi, Seoul followed up with a far more consequential signal: A reported full value-chain partnership built around joint development, local assembly, and the co-export of future KF-21 variants.
In April 2025, the two countries even signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) committing both countries to “comprehensive cooperation” on the KF-21.
The KF-21 is a 4.5-generation multirole fighter featuring stealth shaping, advanced fly-by-wire controls, and an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar.
Since fighter jet deals are underpinned by long-term geopolitical realignments – as lifetime sustainment of fighter jets, their weapons package, and repair, maintenance, and overhaul (RMO) need defense cooperation spanning many decades – the UAE’s decision to buy a Korean fighter jet could herald a huge geopolitical realignment.
However, beyond these high-profile defense deals, South Korea also maintains regular military deployment in the UAE, provides training to the country’s armed forces, and, according to some reports, the two countries have even signed a secret mutual-defense pact.
South Korean Military in the UAE
Military cooperation between the UAE and South Korea started in 2006, when they signed a defense agreement. In 2011, at the request of Abu Dhabi, South Korea deployed its Akh Unit to a military base in Al-Ain to support training for the UAE special forces — an arrangement that continues to this day.
Since the unit’s initial deployment in January 2011, about 1,600 South Korean soldiers have been dispatched to train the United Arab Emirates’ special forces, conduct joint exercises, and engage in exchanges with the UAE military.
This South Korean Akh military unit is still deployed in the UAE. Its scope of action involves training the UAE military and protecting South Koreans in the country.
However, what if the military unit itself is threatened? What if an Iranian drone targets the Akh military unit? In that case, can this South Korean military Unit organize defensive military actions, possibly in coordination with the UAE armed forces?
Interestingly, there have been suggestions that these soldiers can organize military action even if they themselves are not under attack. In other words, if the UAE is under attack, South Korean soldiers can enter the war.
The Akh Unit came under the spotlight as part of a special investigation by the South Korean prosecutor’s office into allegations against former President Lee Myung-bak, who negotiated and sealed the Republic of Korea-UAE nuclear power plant deal in 2009.
Lee’s former minister of defense admitted that an undisclosed military pact between South Korea and the UAE was signed to seal the nuclear power plant deal.
The pact included a controversial clause that would obligate South Korea to intervene militarily to protect the UAE in the event of a crisis, in addition to the deployment of South Korean special forces – meaning the Akh Unit and possibly additional units – and the supply of military equipment on an ongoing basis, the Diplomat reported.
“…the [pact]… obligated South Korea to intervene to assist the UAE in the event of a military conflict; South Korea is obligated not only to supply military equipment, but also to dispatch its troops to protect the UAE.”
Military exchanges or deployments are not new to South Korea. However, of all the South Korean military units operating overseas – the Hanbit Unit in South Sudan, the Dongmyung Unit in Lebanon, the naval Cheonghae Unit stationed off the coast of Oman, and the Akh Unit in the UAE – only the Akh Unit has been granted the authority to conduct standalone missions and to engage in combat apart from carrying out peacekeeping operations.
However, the secret deal was reportedly signed without the National Assembly’s approval, raising legal questions about its status.
No public text of the agreement has been released, and details remain based on leaks, admissions, and media reporting from that period.
However, as South Korea supplied the UAE with interceptors, tapping into its own reserves at a sensitive time when US air defense systems had already been withdrawn from the region, questions are once again being raised about the true nature of the secret defense pact between South Korea and the UAE.
What is certain is that the two countries are expanding their defense partnership at an unprecedented pace, and in the future, they could emerge as each other’s closest defense partners.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern
History from the University of Sheffield, UK. - VIEWS PERSONAL OF THE AUTHOR.
- He can be reached at ahlawat.sumit85 (at) gmail.com
