사우디아라비아의 사회·경제 개혁이 한국에 주는 함의 - 양국 우호 협력관계 진전의 호기(好期) - = The Implications of Saudi Arabia’s Social and Economic Reforms for Korea: Opportune Timing for Advancing Friendly Cooperative Relations between the Two Countries

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was proclaimed by the late King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud in 1932 after he firmly established ruling authority on the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina located in the western region of the Arabian Peninsula.
The Kingdom became the largest crude oil exporting country after the Second World War after Standard Oil of California, a US company, discovered oil in the eastern region of the peninsula in 1938. Consequently the Kingdom’s global position became very important. The Kingdom tried to stabilize the international oil price with the view that the excessively high oil price could adversely affect the economy of importing countries as well as exporting countries during the times of oil crisis from the 1970s to the early 1980s.
The Kingdom actively cooperated with the US in checking the spread of communism in the Middle East and Africa during the Cold War. In the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution of Iran led by Khomeini in 1979, the Kingdom initiated the establishment of the Gulf Cooperation Council with six oil producing Arab states in the Arabian Gulf in 1981 for the purpose of ensuring joint security and promoting economic cooperation among its member states.
The basis of diplomacy of the Kingdom was the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, namely quiet, behind the scenes, pragmatic diplomacy. On the other hand, the Kingdom closely shared common interests with the US, based on the alliance of oil and security.
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who was proclaimed as heir to the throne in 2017, is actively carrying out the programs envisioned in Saudi Vision 2030, which is to pursue the reform and openness of the Kingdom in preparation for the era of post oil. Meanwhile the Crown Prince has decided to resume diplomatic relations with Iran in consideration of the adverse effects that regional instability has on the policy and the economic development of the Kingdom. He also engages actively in finding breakthroughs in such regional and global issues like the Syrian crisis, the Sudanese Civil War, and the Ukrainian War.
Korea established its diplomatic relations with the Kingdom in 1962. The Kingdom was the biggest construction market for Korean companies since the Korean company Samwhan built the highway there in 1973. It was also Korea’s major resource of hard currency and crude oil for implementing economic development plans. However, such cooperative relations were stagnant for a time due to low oil price from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
It is only recently that the cooperation and exchange in various areas between the two countries has once again become very active. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has regarded Korea as a key partner in implementing various programs of Saudi Vision 2030, besides NEOM and other mega national development projects. In this regard, Korea needs to exert its best effort to assist Saudi Vision 2030 to be realized. By doing so, Korea will be able to promote more sustainable bilateral relation with the Kingdom.