UAE Envoy Sepul Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi (left) poses with President Kwon Kyung-Il (KKI) of Socho (SC) Legal Firm at reception held at Shilla Hotel in Seoul to mark the 52nd anniversary of UAE National Day on Nov. 24, 2023. KKI is the chairman of Seoul Art Forum.

The pro-Western United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates or small states, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Quwain, Fujairah, and Ras Al Khaimah.

The dinner reception was held by UAE Ambassador to South Korea Sepul Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi at 6 pm by inviting hundreds of top foreign envoys, local politicians and government officials, cultural and media figures, business leaders, artists, and other high-profile leaders.

UAE Ambassador to South Korea Sepul Abdulla Saif Al Nuaim

The UAE envoy delivered an impressive welcoming speech. The congratulatory remark was made by Minister Won Hee-Ryong of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of South Korea

The Emirates rapidly developed from the impoverished fishing state to the Middle East's most important economic hub.

The UAE, the liberal country in the Gulf, became in 2020 the first Gulf state to ink diplomatic ties with Israel. The pro-US Arab state was a quiet and poor country before oil was discovered in the 1950s.

It relied largely on fishing and a pearl industry on the decrease. Since it started exporting in the early 1960s, the Emirates diversified its economy. It became a regional trading and tourism hub.

With its capital in Abu Dhabi the UAE is stretching at 83,600 sq km. Its population is estimated at 9.2 million. Its president is now Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

One of its seven emirates, the most affluent Dubai, is home to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.

The former British protectorate gained independence in 1971 from the Great Britain, joining the Arab League and UN in the same year.

Minister Won Hee-Ryong of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of South Korea

The UAE established diplomatic ties with South Korea on June 18,1980. In the year's end South Korean Embassy was set up in Abu Dhabi. It was on March 3, 1987 that the UAE opened its embassy in Seoul.

Since then the bilateral relations and mutual cooperation have blossomed by leaps and bound. In 2009 South Korea started building the nuclear power plant in the Middle Eastern nation. On the occasion of the Barakah Neclear Power Plant (BNPP) the ties was promoted to the level of strategic partnership.

For the completion of the Barakah nuclear power plant (BNPP) construction, the 30-billion-dollar UAE's first nuclear power station, thousands of South Korean experts and workers are operating in and around NNPP construction site.

Presently some 4,000 South Koreans working in the areas of UAE. They are mostly from such companies as Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Plant Co., Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), KEPCP KPS, and Hyundai Sansung Joint Venture (HSJV).