Ministry of Foreign Affairs “Strongly condemns Yemeni rebels’ attack on Abu Dhabi… nothing to do with the visit of the president”

[서울=뉴스핌] Reporter Lee Young-tae = The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the 18th, “We strongly condemn the attack on the Abu Dhabi oil storage facility and Abu Dhabi airport in the UAE by the Yemeni Houthi rebels.”

“We reaffirm our government’s position that acts of terrorism that attack and kill civilians will never be tolerated,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released on the same day.

[서울=뉴스핌] President Moon Jae-in holds a meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE and the ruler of Dubai, at the Dubai Expo Leadership Pavilion on the 16th (local time) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). [사진=청와대] 2022.01.17 [email protected]

“Our government expresses serious concerns regarding the latest attack by the Houthis, which threatens peace and stability in the Middle East including the UAE, and urges an immediate halt to it,” he said.

Earlier, in a meeting with reporters, a foreign ministry official dismissed the drone strike by the Yemeni rebels, the Houthis, in the UAE, where President Moon Jae-in was visiting, as having nothing to do with the government’s visiting group.

“The Yemeni Houthi rebels attacked Abu Dhabi this time,” the official said in a meeting with reporters. “I think it has nothing to do with our visiting group.”

As of the 19th, President Moon is visiting Saudi Arabia following completing his UAE tour. In the wake of the meeting with the UAE Prime Minister in Dubai on the 16th, President Moon exchanged a business plan for the ‘Cheongung-II’, a ballistic missile interceptor system called the Korean-style Patriot, and confirmed the export contract.

Some analysts believe that the sudden cancellation of the summit between President Moon and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, originally scheduled for the 17th, was canceled because the UAE detected signs of an attack in advance. A foreign ministry official did not answer a question regarding whether the UAE had shared signs of the attack beforehand.

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