South Korea’s response to Thai forces’ reported use of the ROK’s T-50TH trainer aircraft in cross-border strikes on Cambodian territory has exposed how Seoul applies its arms export policy inconsistently, tolerating combat use in some cases while invoking legal restraint in others.

Thai aircraft reportedly carried out strikes on Dec. 24 against targets inside Cambodia during a renewed flare-up in border tensions between Bangkok and Phnom Penh.

The strikes drew particular attention in Seoul because they involved the T-50TH, a variant of the T-50 advanced trainer family produced by Korea Aerospace Industries and approved for export primarily as a training