South Korea, one of the world's largest oil importers, has announced a deliberate turn away from its long-standing dependence on Middle Eastern crude, setting a target of 50% by 2035. The decision is less about economics than about the ancient wisdom of not placing all one's provisions in a single basket — a recognition that resilience, not merely efficiency, must guide a nation's energy future. In doing so, Seoul signals to both its current suppliers and the wider world that even the most entrenched dependencies can be renegotiated when the stakes are high enough.