South Korea has halted projects designed to make their navy a high seas force, as well as air force efforts to acquire aerial refueling and other capabilities allowing for very long range operations. It all has to do with the need to pay more attention to North Korean threat. ...
So money is being diverted to projects that will make the military more effective in dealing what whatever new nastiness the North Koreans might come up with. That means new sensors for detecting submarines, and more anti-missile systems. There is more training for civil defense workers and those assigned the task of dealing with North Korean commandos landing far south of the North Korean border.
In the long run, this support for North Korea just encourages countries to be angry with China and build up their militaries to cope with both, but for many in Peking, this will give them a nice warm and fuzzy feeling.
