The government sent Rhee Hyun-ku, special presidential advisor for science and technology, to the opening ceremony of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia last week.
Rhee was representing President Lee Myun-bak, who was in New York attending the U.N. Summit on Climate Change.
According to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Seoul, President Lee was one of nearly 200 heads of state who were invited.
Turki Fahad Alayyar, cultural attache at the embassy, said that Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz wanted to invite the world's leaders to the event.
The opening coincided with the national day of Saudi Arabia last Wednesday.
Accompanying presidential envoy Rhee was Lee Jang-moo, president of Seoul National University (SNU).
Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries in the Middle East with which Korea established diplomatic ties, in October 1962. It established ties with Egypt a year earlier.
An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade called Saudi Arabia a ``traditional ally'' of Korea.
The oil-rich Middle East country possesses 25 percent of the world's oil reserve, and exports it worldwide. Korea relies heavily on Saudi Arabia for its crude oil.
The SNU president's presence signals future cooperation in terms of education.
Lee is known to be on the advisory committee to King Abdullah, the founder of the KAUST. Two Korean researchers are already working at the new university.
``Oil-money began to funnel through the educational sector, and we hope it will pave the way for Korea-Saudi Arabia cooperation in education,'' the official said.
Under the current agreement on educational cooperation signed between the two countries, 71 Saudi Arabians are currently studying in Korea.