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| Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. The de facto leader of the oil kingdom held a summit with President Moon Jae-in and promised billions of dollars in investment. A U.N. probe says there is credible evidence linking the prince to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident and journalist. Yonhap |
By Oh Young-jin
Nobody asked Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi during his June 26-27 visit to Korea. If anybody does during the G20 in Osaka, Japan, MbS's next destination, please let me know.
In Seoul, the prince, 33, was insulated from those who could ask about his alleged involvement in the journalist's killing. There were no news conferences or shouts from activists.
President Moon Jae-in held a summit and hosted a lunch for MbS with heads of the nation's top conglomerates. Even in the evening, Moon spent time with the world's richest man who controls the world's biggest business entity, the state monopoly Saudi Aramco, and leads his country's modernization plan worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
It is no accident that Moon, a former human rights lawyer, did not think of confronting him with the allegation that a recent U.N. report again raised ― that MbS ordered Khashoggi killed to muffle his criticisms of the kingdom's dismal human rights record and the prince's autocratic rule.
If Moon had, the country would have lost tens of billions of dollars in investment from Saudi Arabia. MbS attended the ceremony to inaugurate a $4 billion facility of S-Oil, controlled by Aramco, while promising billions more in new investments.
MbS's 2030 plan is aimed at weaning his country from oil dependency for its income, offering business opportunities that no company would pass.
Hundreds of business partners of S-Oil and Aramco from around the world attended the Wednesday ceremony. I asked some participants about the Khashoggi case. One said, "I respect a free press." When prompted to comment about it, his business associate said, "No comment."
MbS was more than an hour late for the ceremony and there was no clear explanation why. An MC repeated "the ceremony will begin soon."
So it was as if MbS had dropped "oil dollar bombs" on Seoul, muffling shouts of "bloody murder."
During the G20 meeting, which started its two-day run Friday, the chance was that the leaders of the world's top economies would look away and curry favor with the crown prince.
The self-imposed gag order was presaged by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said during a recent media interview that he did not raise the issue of the Khashoggi case while talking on the phone with the crown prince.
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| Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Moon Jae-in enter the hall at Shilla Hotel to start the ceremony to inaugurate the Aramco-controlled S-Oil's new facilities, Wednesday. Yonhap |
Even the leader of the supposed world's most powerful nation shied away and did not want to rub the Saudi prince the wrong way. Trump is no aberration. Historically, irrespective of political affiliations, American presidents by and large tend to ally themselves with the House of Saud, the Saudi royal family, for oil and balance of power in the Middle East.
For Trump, he wants MbS's cooperation in dealing with Iran, which the U.S. President sees as the cause of the region's troubles. Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are vying for regional control.
Here is the gist of the Khashoggi case so far. The U.N. recently disclosed that its probe confirmed there was "credible evidence" linking MbS with the Washington Post columnist's murder. The report cited the involvement of Saudi government personnel who were close to the crown prince preparing for the murder. In their communications, Khashoggi was referred to as a sacrificial animal.
The crown prince denied any involvement. The Saudi government said it was a rogue operation and charged 11 people.
Despite the U.N. investigation result, few are eager to go after the truth of the killing. Trump has said there is no reason for the U.S. to investigate because Khashoggi was not a U.S. citizen ― he was a U.S. resident after he fled Saudi Arabia. And it appears the red tape-clogged International Criminal Court won't be of any help soon.
There is a strong case for our action. Khashoggi was a journalist who set out to expose what is wrong with absolute power ― the dragged-out costly war in Yemen, which according to some reports was masterminded by MbS. Tens of thousands have been killed, maimed, orphaned and otherwise simply uprooted from their lives.
It was Khashoggi's chosen work that served the public's interest ― holding the powerful accountable. If we let the killing of such a watchdog go unexplained, we may lose not just one Khashoggi but put an army of people like him around the world in jeopardy.
At a fundamental level, it is our basic human-to-human duty to respect people's lives. When one's life is violated, it is our unquestionable duty to find out why and how, and punish the responsible party.
I know the supposed naivety of this argument when there are so many other cases of injustice that have received scant attention. But that naivety can turn into a powerful weapon for justice when we act on it and start holding the powerful responsible.
So the question that remains unasked during MbS's Seoul visit or stopover in Osaka is not so much for the prince over whether he ordered the Khashoggi killing but for ourselves: Are we ready to say enough is enough?
