Photo: Presidential chief of staff Kang Hun-sik meets with Abu Dhabi's Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak. Credit: Facebook page of Kang Hun-sik.
Since the beginning of the US-Iran War, the Lee Jae-myung 이재명 administration has been laser-focused on securing alternative sources of petroleum and petroleum byproducts using every tool at the government’s disposal.
On April 15, Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hun-sik 강훈식 대통령 비서실장 returned from his trip to Kazakhstan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar as a special envoy with the news that he had secured 273m barrels of crude oil, good for three months’ supply, to be delivered by the end of the year. Added to South Korea’s existing reserves, the influx leaves the country prepared to weather a cut-off of more than 500 days.
On April 17, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 외교부 announced that it secured imports of crude oil and naphtha (raw material for plastics) from Algeria and Libya. The Ministry of Finance and Economy 재정경제부 also secured imports of naphtha from Russia, by coordinating with the United States to obtain sanctions exemptions.
