Megawati Receives South Korean and UAE Ambassadors at Teuku Umar Residence
Indonesia’s fifth President and Chairwoman of the PDI Perjuangan (PDIP), Megawati Soekarnoputri, received courtesy calls from South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Yoon Soon-gu and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to Indonesia Abdulla Salem Obaid Al Dhaheri. The two met with Megawati separately at her residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Monday (13/7/2026). Ambassador Yoon visited first, with Megawati accompanied by her son and PDIP Chairman M. Prananda Prabowo, as well as PDIP Chairmen Rokhmin Dahuri and Ahmad Basarah.
Ambassador Yoon observed the meeting room at Megawati’s residence on Jalan Teuku Umar, expressing his fortune at meeting the Soekarno family. ‘I am honoured today to meet Ibu Megawati and to visit this room. The history of the Indonesian nation is in this room. I see many photos of President Soekarno, photos of Ibu Megawati, and I meet Ibu and her son in person,’ said Ambassador Yoon. Touching on the two Koreas, Ambassador Yoon greatly appreciated Megawati’s attention to issues on the Korean Peninsula. ‘Ibu Mega has experience, expertise, and closeness with both North Korea and South Korea. This is an asset for her to act as an intermediary for the two countries to engage in peaceful dialogue at the negotiating table,’ he stated.
The South Korean Ambassador conveyed that the most important thing currently is dialogue with North Korea without any preconditions. Megawati explained her past experience as a peace envoy for South Korea, starting from the era of President Kim Dae-jung of the Democratic Party. ‘At that time, I proposed meetings and family reunions for those separated by the division of Korea at the Panmunjom border. I also proposed economic cooperation between the two kindred nations,’ Megawati explained. Noting that the current South Korean president is from the same Democratic Party as Kim Dae-jung, Ambassador Yoon felt that Megawati’s experience and closeness to North Korea made her the right figure to be a special envoy for peace on the Korean Peninsula. He promised to convey the discussion to President Lee Jae-myung.
After receiving the South Korean Ambassador, Megawati continued with a courtesy call from UAE Ambassador Abdulla Salem Al Dhaheri. On this occasion, Megawati was accompanied by the Head of the Party’s Central Research and Policy Analysis Agency, Andi Widjajanto, and the Executive Director of the Megawati Institute, Hilmar Farid. Megawati and Ambassador Al Dhaheri share a close relationship, especially following Megawati’s visit to the UAE in early February. ‘Thank you for visiting my home in Abu Dhabi last February. I convey warm greetings from the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He knows about this meeting and sends his warm regards to you,’ said Ambassador Al Dhaheri. The discussion flowed not only on geopolitical issues related to conflicts in the Middle East but also on closer cooperation in various fields. Megawati encouraged cooperation between the UAE Government and the Megawati Institute in areas such as religious tolerance, Pancasila, and studies on the thoughts of the founding figures of both nations. In her capacity as Chair of the Steering Committee of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Megawati also urged strengthened cooperation between BRIN and the UAE Government, including on mangrove research already underway in Bali.