(NSI News Source Info) SEOUL - May 5, 2009: South Korean and U.S. military authorities have agreed to work together on information assurance and computer network d
efense by creating a mechanism to assure freer sharing of information and technologies.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed April 30 by Woo Joo-ha, who runs the planning and coordination office of the Ministry of National Defense, and John Grimes, U.S. assistant defense secretary for networks and information integration, said the May 4 MND release.
"The MoU, in particular, will help South Korea improve its cyber-defense capability and increase the interoperability on joint cyber-defense operations and information-sharing after Seoul takes over wartime operational control of its troops from the U.S. military in 2012," a ministry spokesman told reporters.
The pact can be abrogated within 15 years based on mutual consent, he said.
By 2012, the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command is to be disbanded and two separate theater commands will be set up on the Korean Peninsula under a 2007 agreement on command rearrangements. Concerns have been raised that South Korea, unlike under the combined force mechanism, would not acquire the same level of classified information and intelligence on North Korea after the wartime control transition.
South Korea and the U.S. have held a military information sharing conference annually since 2005, but the level of information sharing has remained at a low level, said the spokesman.
Under the agreement, both sides will be able to share up to "second-level" classified information if required, he said.
The two sides will hold a new conference on information-sharing assurance and joint defense for computer network systems at least once a year under the latest agreement, he added.
South Korea plans to expand its participation in international cyber-defense exercises to test and evaluate its accrued skills against cyber attacks, he noted.
The Pentagon holds an international cyber-defense exercise annually that draws about 15 nations, ministry officials said. The South Korean military first took part in the exercise last year and is preparing to join the upcoming exercises in June and October, they said.
South Korean authorities have seen no cyber attacks from North Korea, but have been bracing for a possible salvo in case of an emergency.
The communist North is known to have established a cyber warfare unit, codenamed 121, in 1998. Report said the 10,000-personel unit has the technical capability to construct and deploy an array of cyber weapons. It has moderately advanced denial of service capabilities with moderate virus and malicious code capabilities.
efense by creating a mechanism to assure freer sharing of information and technologies.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed April 30 by Woo Joo-ha, who runs the planning and coordination office of the Ministry of National Defense, and John Grimes, U.S. assistant defense secretary for networks and information integration, said the May 4 MND release.
"The MoU, in particular, will help South Korea improve its cyber-defense capability and increase the interoperability on joint cyber-defense operations and information-sharing after Seoul takes over wartime operational control of its troops from the U.S. military in 2012," a ministry spokesman told reporters.
The pact can be abrogated within 15 years based on mutual consent, he said.
By 2012, the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command is to be disbanded and two separate theater commands will be set up on the Korean Peninsula under a 2007 agreement on command rearrangements. Concerns have been raised that South Korea, unlike under the combined force mechanism, would not acquire the same level of classified information and intelligence on North Korea after the wartime control transition.
South Korea and the U.S. have held a military information sharing conference annually since 2005, but the level of information sharing has remained at a low level, said the spokesman.
Under the agreement, both sides will be able to share up to "second-level" classified information if required, he said.
The two sides will hold a new conference on information-sharing assurance and joint defense for computer network systems at least once a year under the latest agreement, he added.
South Korea plans to expand its participation in international cyber-defense exercises to test and evaluate its accrued skills against cyber attacks, he noted.
The Pentagon holds an international cyber-defense exercise annually that draws about 15 nations, ministry officials said. The South Korean military first took part in the exercise last year and is preparing to join the upcoming exercises in June and October, they said.
South Korean authorities have seen no cyber attacks from North Korea, but have been bracing for a possible salvo in case of an emergency.
The communist North is known to have established a cyber warfare unit, codenamed 121, in 1998. Report said the 10,000-personel unit has the technical capability to construct and deploy an array of cyber weapons. It has moderately advanced denial of service capabilities with moderate virus and malicious code capabilities.
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