[davidw]

The implication is that South Korea has the resources and technology to produce and distribute masks to its citizens.

But I'd love to hear the details from someone that knows more. That's potentially a lot of masks to be churning out.

[bluGill]

they are taking masks that could be used here instead. There are so any masks made in the world so every use of one is a mask that someone else couldn't use.

Obviously factories have abilities to ramp up production to meet demand so the above is simplistic. However they can only ramp up so far (or fast) when the limit is reached the above applies.