In a move that risks inflaming tensions with China, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Thursday became the first intelligence agency in Asia to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) Cyber Defence Group.
According to the NIS, it has been accepted as a contributing participant for the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). The cyber defence group was established in 2008 in Tallinn in response to a cyberattack that crippled Estonia’s state networks. It focuses on research, training, and exercises in the field of cybersecurity.
JUST IN: 🇰🇷 South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) has begun to notify the country's major #cryptocurrency exchanges of hacking attempts.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 8, 2022
South Korea’s membership has increased the number of members to 32, including 27 NATO states that are categorised as sponsor nations. Five other contributing participants are non-NATO countries.
“Cyberthreats are causing great damage to not only individuals but also separate nations and also transnationally, so close international cooperation is crucial. We plan to strengthen our cyber response capabilities to a world-class level by increasing the number of our staff sent to the centre and expanding the scope of joint training,” the Korea Herald reported the NIS as saying.
The NIS submitted its application to join the group in 2019 and has since made various efforts to contribute to the group. The Korean spy agency has also participated in the world’s largest international live-fire cyber defence exercise, Locked Shields, for two years in a row since 2020.
If South Korea takes a path of turning hostile against its neighbors, the end of this path could be a Ukraine. https://t.co/WVuQvpLjLv
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) May 5, 2022
In response to the news, Hu Xijin, the former editor of the Chinese state-owned media house Global Times, tweeted that the move was a provocation to Beijing and could end in war in Asia. “If South Korea takes a path of turning hostile against its neighbours, the end of this path could be a Ukraine,” he warned.
Against the backdrop of Russia’s war on Ukraine, South Korea’s entry into the group seems to reflect a strengthening resolve among the United States (US) and its Western allies to combat rising threats from Russia, as well as China, which has done little to oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, it is unclear if NATO was motivated by events in Ukraine to finally sign off on South Korea’s membership.
Professor Sean O’Malley, a political scientist at Dongseo University in Busan, opines that Seoul’s membership is “a culmination of a very slow evolution over the past decade of getting cybersecurity to be recognized as a really serious threat.” Regardless of the group’s motivations, the move brings US allies closer together. Keeping this in mind, O’Malley remarked, “This is just one more arrow in the quiver for the United States and its allies. And, of course, this is one more capacity where China would prefer South Korea be as independent as possible.”
South Korea has been the principal target of increasingly frequent cyberattacks from across the DMZ. According to the Korea Institute of Liberal Democracy in Seoul, a squad of 6,800 North Korean agents are engaged in “fraud, blackmail, and online gambling” that generates a combined revenue of around $860 million annually. Many attacks also originate from mainland China. To this end, the country launched a National Cybersecurity Strategy under the Moon Jae-in administration in 2018.
China and South Korea have an active dispute over the Socotra Rock in the Yellow Sea, which China refers to as the Suyan Islet. Both countries claim the island to be part of their respective economic zones. In this respect, Seoul’s latest move is further expected to further exacerbate strained relations.