Page 83 - 2020 Defence White Paper

15. The Minister and the Secretary reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen Alliance cyber capabilities
in light of the increasing scope of cyber security threats. The two sides committed to maintain close
communication and coordination in the cyber domain, including sharing trends of cyber threats as well
as corresponding policy changes in their respective nations and discussing common issues of interest.

16. The Minister and the Secretary noted that the ROK–US science and technology cooperation has
expanded in several domains such as cyber defense, artificial intelligence, automation, and directed
energy. The two sides assessed that cooperation is continuing to develop in a way that furthers ROK–
US mutual interests.

17. The Minister and the Secretary concurred in the need to strengthen the national defense capabilities
of the Alliance, and to establish more efficient and effective collaboration in their development,
acquisition, and employment. The two sides concurred in the importance of expanding and deepening
cooperation in the areas of defense research and development, industrial cooperation, capability
acquisition, and logistics and sustainment, with a focus on strengthening the national defense capabilities
of the Alliance as well as interoperability. Going forward, the two sides pledged to continue to devise and
deepen cooperative efforts through the regular consultative bodies that support these domains, and
approved a reform of those consultative bodies to strengthen their alignment with Alliance policy and
strategy.

18. The Minister and the Secretary pledged to continue and to enhance defense cooperation to address
wide-ranging global security challenges of mutual interest, including through peacekeeping operations
(PKO), counter-piracy operations, stabilization and reconstruction efforts, regional security cooperation
initiatives, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The Minister highlighted the effective global
leadership demonstrated by the United States in response to various global security challenges. The
Secretary praised the ROK’s dedication and contribution to various global security efforts, including the
counter-piracy activities in the Gulf of Aden, UN peacekeeping operations, and the Proliferation Security
Initiative (PSI). Based on the common understanding of the Alliance against threats posed by Weapons
of Mass Destruction (WMD), the Minister and the Secretary praised the efforts to improve response
capabilities and to guarantee interoperability in the combined force to respond against WMD threats in
contingency and to interdict WMD proliferation. They also resolved to continue to strengthen cooperation
to improve WMD response capabilities, including efforts that go through the DoD Cooperative Threat
Reduction Program.

19. The Minister and the Secretary concurred in the importance of US–ROK.–Japan trilateral security
cooperation based on common security interests despite the challenges. They committed to continue

Appendix