Why doesn't SK simply buy the AEGIS system OFF THE SHELF...? Or is the US busy subsidizing it's own competitor?
The one which is licensed to be produced by other countries is usually an older model without some crucial components which only U.S. can provide.
Still, even information on this stripped-down version could give adversaries some insights on how to counter it.
Hyundai Asan and Hyundai Shipbuilding are separate companies now. Hyundai Group is now divided into multiple independent corporations You cannot get information on Aegis ships from Hyundai Asan by simply making a phone call to Hyundai Shipbuilding and ask for it. Probably, N. Koreans failed to understand such workings of capitalist corporations. To them, since they all came out of old Hyundai Group, somehow such transaction could be still possible.