UKRAINE: FT-US: All Patriot Orders To Ukraine; SK Reconsiders Arms Supply

The FT is reporting that the "US government is set to halt all open orders for Patriot air defence systems and interceptor missiles until Ukraine has enough to defend itself from Russia’s air attacks." Increased Russian missile and drone attacks on key Ukrainian infrastructure, notably power plants, has seen the Zelenskyy administration plead for increased supplies. 

• At last week's G7 summit in Apulia, Italy, US President Joe Biden said that five nations had agreed to send air defence systems to Ukraine. 
• Presently, Poland, Romania and Germany have open orders for Patriot systems, Spain for Patriot launchers, and a number of NATO states jointly ordered 1k missiles in Jan. These will all now go to Ukraine. 
• Some observers have raised concerns that US allies elsewhere, notably in Asia, could find themselves disadvantaged if Patriot systems intended for them are diverted to Ukraine. 
• The FT story comes as South Korea's Yonhap reports that the gov't in Seoul will reconsider the issue of arms supply to Ukraine. South Korea is the 10th largest global arms exporter and the second-largest in Asia behind China. Comes following the military assistance pact between North Korea and Russia agreed to on Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang on 19 June. 
• South Korean law prohibits arms sales to conflict zones, but a workaround is to sell arms to allies, who send their own stocks to Ukraine, replenishing their own w/Korean supplies.