What did SK feed special envoy from United Arab Emirates?

The special envoy from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak (center), walks out of the National Assembly building, Monday. / Yonhap

By Oh Young-jin

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, the special envoy from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), spent three hours at the Walkerhill Hotel in eastern Seoul, Monday.

It was a dinner hosted by SK Chairman Chey Tae-won at his luxury hotel.

SK confirmed their meeting but failed to reveal who attended the function.

The hotel has many restaurants and is especially well known for its Korean restaurant, Ondal. Most likely, the UAE envoy was entertained in a secluded banquet room.

SK did not say what food the envoy, who is also a business associate of Chey, was served.

A conglomerate spokesman said Chey visited Kalidoon during a trip to the emirate in 2016, indicating the two were close enough to exchange visits.

One interesting point was about whether the food was properly treated according to Islamic rules or halal.

SK did not reveal the menu and its official speculated that it would have been treated so, if Kalidoon had asked for it.

UAE is a secular Islamic state, so individuals can have some freedom in what and how they eat. For members of the ruling class, the regulations can be stricter.

The duration of their dinner indicated the function involved alcohol, also a subject that can be touchy in Islamic etiquette.

Before Kalidoon’s Korean visit, SK said Chey had no plans to meet the UAE’s special envoy nor did SK have outstanding business interests. SK got embroiled in controversy when President Moon Jae-in’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok met Chey before visiting the UAE in December.

It was speculated that Im’s visit was to solve problems facing Chey’s business conglomerate.

But SK dismissed reports that Chey had preceded Im in meeting Khaldoon.

Khaldoon’s behavior in Korea raised some questions. He was often seen with hands in his pockets.

The UAE Embassy in Seoul first rejected a Hyundai-made Equus limousine, the standard type for a visiting dignitary, asking for a Mercedes instead. According to the vernacular Chosun Ilbo, the Korean hosts persuaded the UAE side to change its mind.

It was quite unclear what the outcome of Khaldoon’s urgent visit to Seoul was.

After visiting President Moon and Im, Kalidoon said he was leaving Korea satisfied. But in the New Year news conference, held the day after his departure, the President said he would seek to revise the Korea-UAE defense deal.

Although both sides did not reveal the contents of the pact signed during the Lee Myung-bak administration, Kim Tae-young, then defense minister who signed the deal, told the vernacular Joongang Ilbo newspaper that it included Korea’s automatic intervention in the event that UAE was invaded.

According to this secret deal, a lawmaker claimed that Korea provided ammunition for the UAE in its involvement in the civil war in Yemen.