South Korea is a US puppet regime, so those friendly relationships only extend as far as the US will allow it. The moment they need something, like say helping

South Korea is a US puppet regime, so those friendly relationships only extend as far as the US will allow it. The moment they need something, like say helping them paint China as a devious infectious entity bent on world domination, or that the DPRK is full of backwards nitwits who are dominated by an insane dictator, the South Korean government bends over backwards to comply.