Why would a government maintain their own distro in the first place? Other than some minor modifications, what is it about S. Korea gov. officials that's fundamentally different from Office workers that they need specific Linux functionality?
Surely at the level of app/drivers or something, but probably not core functionality.
The whole point of the process was to save money, and one of the ways they can do that is by standardization.
Any deviation for de-facto standards can be costly in many ways, especially in terms of risk.
Everyone faces advanced threats, large companies etc. The rational thing to do would be to pool talent and make sure there's a product that's well suited to them.
By 'pooling' I mean paying some smart people to do that. Like Rad Hat. Or --> Micrsoft! Or whoever.
Software is like anything else: it has to be made and maintained, it takes work, and someone has to pay for it.
The fundamentally different issue is 'platform monopolies' which we have to watch out for. But other than that it's just a product.
S. Korean gov. probably spends a zillion dollars making and maintaining roads. Do they design and build their own construction equipment? No way. Because it makes more sense for all of us if they pay some specialized people to do that, i.e. 'just buy it'.
More specifically to your point, it might make sense for a 'state version' of some linux distro, that really wasn't a functional variation, but more or less a 'bundle'. Maybe RedHat could do this ...
Surely at the level of app/drivers or something, but probably not core functionality.
The whole point of the process was to save money, and one of the ways they can do that is by standardization.
Any deviation for de-facto standards can be costly in many ways, especially in terms of risk.