Page 79 - 2018 Defense White Paper

Section 3 Strengthening National

Defense Cybersecurity

Capabilities and Establishing a

Firm Counterterrorism Posture

Safeguarding cyberspace is a sovereign state’s core task—a task equivalent to maintaining the exclusive control
over territorial land, waters, and airspace. Many countries are heavily investing their manpower and financial
resources in strengthening their cyber capabilities, and the ROK Armed Forces plans to push forward the Chapter 3
“strengthening of national defense cybersecurity capabilities” initiative to secure safety in cyberspace, which
is directly linked to national security and the accomplishment of military objectives. Moreover, to effectively
respond to the growing threats of terrorism, The MND will continue to strengthen its counterterrorism systems
and capabilities by overhauling the relevant legal and institutional framework and reinforcing equipment and
supplies of counterterrorism units.

1. Bolstering Response Capabilities against Cyber Threats

| Devising Measures to Strengthen National Defense CyberSecurity Capabilities | In
2010, the ROK Armed Forces established ROK Cyber Command to form the institutional
and organizational basis to conduct cyber warfare. Since then, the ROK Armed Forces has

actively responded to the growing cyber threats. However, concerns over the national defense
cybersecurity were raised following defense network hacking incident and the controversy over
the Cyber Command’s unlawful political interference in 2016. The necessity to bolster response

capabilities against increasingly intelligent and sophisticated cyber threats has also increased.

National defense
cybersecurity policy

Section 3 Strengthening National Defense Cybersecurity Capabilities and Establishing a Firm Counterterrorism Posture 77