During the long decades of the Cold War, North and South Korea regularly found themselves on opposing sides in every international conflict. South Korean ground forces fought together with South Vietnam’s troops, while North Korean pilots fought with Hanoi’s armed forces. More recently, while the North Koreans sold weapons or military technology to Syria, Iran and any other anti-Western government or militia in the Middle East, South Korea contributed to US-led coalition forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is therefore not surprising that something similar is happening now, with the war in Ukraine: the North Koreans are supplying ammunition to Russia, while the South Koreans are increasingly becoming a key weapon supplier for Western nations helping Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.