South Korea–Syria relations
bilateral relations between South Korea and Syria
South Korea–Syria relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of Korea and the Syrian Arab Republic. Formal diplomatic relations were established on 10 April 2025, marking a significant shift in Syria's international relations and completing South Korea's diplomatic outreach and foreign relations to nearly all United Nations member states. As there are currently no direct diplomatic missions, South Korean affairs are handled in the embassy in Beirut, while Syrian affairs are handled in the embassy in Tokyo.
History
Prior to 2025, Syria was the only United Nations member state that did not maintain diplomatic relations with South Korea. This was largely due to Syria's long-standing alliance with North Korea, which included military cooperation and ideological alignment since the Cold War, including during the Syrian civil war. In 1990, the South Korean government once held diplomatic talks with Ba'athist Syria about establishing relations, but they did not reach an agreement.
There have only been several high-level exchanges between the two countries, with the earliest being when South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Chang Man-Soon visited Syria in June 1992.
In August 2011, with the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, South Korea imposed a travel ban to Syria for its citizens, which has stayed in place throughout the war.
Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the Syrian caretaker government was established, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa was formed. This new administration aimed to normalize relations with Western and Asian nations, including South Korea, as part of broader efforts to reintegrate Syria into the international community.
The public source identifies “South Korea–Syria relations” as bilateral relations between South Korea and Syria. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around South, Korea and Syria.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 6, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q63968377. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2025, 1990, 1992 and 2011.
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This entry incorporates text from “South Korea–Syria relations” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.