What's ROK up to by joining CCDCOE?

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Li Wei
Time
2022-05-10 17:46:51

By Lan Shunzheng

The ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS) issued a statement on May 5 that ROK has become the first Asian state of NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE), drawing close attention of the international community.

In the background of escalating major-country competition, traditional military powers all take strategic emerging technologies, centered on cyber information technology, as the subversive game-changer and are working hard to get a head-start and leave their rivals behind. The CCDCOE that ROK has joined is both an international organization and a military bloc that aims to reinforce the capacity, cooperation and intelligence sharing in cyber defense among NATO members and partners through training, R&D and exercises. It is the well-recognized center of NATO’s cyber defense system.

ROK has practical considerations for joining the bloc. On the one hand, although the country is a global IT leader with Internet applications present in every aspect of people’s lives, the world’s fastest network speed, and the earliest 5G commercialization that was launched in 2019, its people are barely conscious of cyber risks and cybersecurity events happen from time to time. On the other hand, ROK aims to become a moderately strong country in non-traditional security domains like cybersecurity, and consequently uplift its international image, position and discourse power.

Therefore, ROK has been strengthening its own cyber force in recent years. In February 2014, its Defense Ministry officially released a cyber weapon system development program to accelerate the R&D of cyber weapons and offensive/defensive technologies; ROK has held massive cyber simulation exercises annually since 2015; and in April 2019, the Moon Jae-in administration released the first National Cybersecurity Strategy through the National Security Office of Blue House, the highest-level policy guide on cybersecurity ever issued by the country.

Seoul believes that cybersecurity development not only needs the support of its own people, but also requires active international cooperation. Since the US is ROK’s ally, their cooperation was first expanded in the military domain. In 2008, ROK participated in the international cyber-defense seminar organized by the US Department of Defense, and they added cyber-attack anddefense contents in their annual routine military exercises; in 2013, the two countries signed an agreement on forming a Cyber Cooperation Working Group (CCWG). Seoul was equally enthusiastic about CCDCOE. In 2019, its National Security Office submitted a letter of intent and joined its annual exerciseLocked Shields in 2020 and 2021. ROK’s entry will increase the number of CCDCOE’s official members to 32, including 27 NATO members and 5 non-members (Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Austria and ROK).

The America-NATO cybersecurity alliance that Seoul is seeking to join is highly enclosed and exclusive, with passive mechanisms and confrontational cyber culture. This will further complicate the situation in Northeast Asia and, to some extent, aggravate non-traditional security confrontations. What’s more, the move may also exacerbate the regional security situation – even into a dilemma – due to cyberspace’s magnifying effect, which will be detrimental to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.

Editor's note: This article is originally published on www.thepaper.cn, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.

Related News

Continue...