South Korea’s presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said this week that Seoul has secured priority crude oil and naphtha supplies from Gulf producers through the end of the year, a development that highlights a growing constraint on the country’s defense export ambitions as rising demand from the same partners collides with limits in industrial capacity and domestic military requirements.

Requests from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to accelerate deliveries of South Korean air defense systems are emerging at a time of heightened regional demand following sustained exchanges with Iran.

On April 12, The Wall Street Journal