- The diplomatic relations between the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Korea were formally established on June 18, 1980.
- The Republic of Korea opened its Embassy in Abu Dhabi on December 5, 1980, while the UAE opened its Embassy in Seoul, on March 3, 1987. Since then, the bilateral relations between the two countries have been witnessing a remarkable progress, as these relations were upgraded to a "strategic partnership" in 2009 against the backdrop of the expansion of cooperation, with the Barakah nuclear power plant as a milestone project in the bilateral ties.
- Again in 2018, the ties were elevated to Special Strategic Partnership to meet the more expanded and diversified exchanges. They were again elevated to Special Strategic Partnership in 2018. These relations were also expanded to include all areas of cooperation at the political, economic, cultural and other aspects.
- The qualitative development witnessed in the bilateral relations between the UAE and the ROK is resulted from the policies of the leadership in both countries to support and develop these ties.
- The several reciprocal visits between leaders and high-ranking officials in two sides played an important role in the consolidation and strengthening of these relations.
- On the UAE side, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces visited the Republic of Korea in May 2010, March 2012, April 2014 and February 2019.
- On the Korean side, the most prominent visits were the ones made by former President Lee Myung-bak in 2009 and 2011, former President Park Geun-hye in 2014 and 2015, and President Moon Jae-in in 2018.
- At the level of ministers and high-level officials, many visits took place, the last of which was the official visit of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Seoul in July 2020.
- The bilateral relations have also been strengthened through channels of dialogue and high-level meetings between the two sides, including the Special Strategic Dialogue between the foreign ministers of the two countries, the Defense meetings between the defense ministers of the two countries, the foreign and defense vice-ministerial (2+2) meeting, the high-level consultations on nuclear cooperation and Joint Committee meeting, as well as the signing of several agreements and MOU in various fields of cooperation.
