Japan saw the Russian-Ukrainian crisis as a chance to follow the United States’ lead in condemning Russia and working with the US in its Asia-Pacific strategy, demonstrating its intentions to the world. The purpose is clear: US Secretary of State Blinken stated that Japan will attend the June NATO meeting.
While everyone is debating the prospective consequences of Japan’s extraordinary step on the Asia-Pacific, South Korea unexpectedly declared that its National Intelligence Service has formally joined a NATO network defense group.
Is South Korea now a member of NATO’s cyber warfare force because it became the organization’s first Asian member?
Not quite, but it may be claimed that South Korea has made a risky move by testing at a sensitive moment.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NSI) is an intelligence and national security organization patterned after the United States Central Intelligence Agency, formerly known as KCIA.
South Korea has officially joined the “Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence” (NATO Cyber Defense Center for short), which is ostensibly intended to boost intelligence collaboration between South Korea and the US. Regional intelligence exchanges to improve coordination and cooperation in dealing with major international security issues, both traditional and non-traditional, and control more regions; for South Korea, joining the NATO Cyber Defense Center, the world’s “most authoritative” cybersecurity agency, the country believes it has been recognized by the “International Community” and will “further expand its voice” in the world region.
After the pro-US group, Yin Xiyue was elected president of South Korea, this is the trend of “The US and South Korea going farther.” Following her election, Yin Xiyue slammed the Moon Jae-in government’s ambiguous approach to the US and China, accusing the outside world of “leaving the impression that South Korea is drifting away from its ally the US for many years.”
Following that, Yin Xiyue plans to join the “Quartet Security Dialogue,” calls for the relocation of US strategic forces including strategic bombers and nuclear submarines to the Korean peninsula, and aggressively urges that the US join the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” chariot.
In such a perilous circumstance, South Korea had a huge majority of positive public sentiment. South Korea’s membership in the NATO Cyber Defense Center is now a hesitant move in the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the shifting global structure. It aims to test the attitude of the United States and the attitudes of all parties in the Asia-Pacific region while the two South Korean governments alternate.
I’m not sure if this is a coincidence. Park Jin, South Korea’s foreign minister candidate, also stated that the country has received an invitation from NATO to attend the NATO summit in June.
When these phrases are combined, people automatically associate them with terrible things, hence NATO’s decision to ask Japan to attend the NATO summit and the Korean National Intelligence Service to join the NATO Cyber Defense Center is not coincidental.
Although South Korea merely joined the NATO Cyber Defense Center, which is not the same as joining NATO, the NATO Cyber Defense Center not only belongs to an international military organization, but it also protects its own network security, as former NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen stated. The NATO military alliance’s next step will be to investigate how to guard against cyber threats as a military alliance; if a member nation is targeted by a cyberattack that is not dealt with quickly and effectively, it will harm NATO as a whole.
Despite Biden’s claim that NATO’s “collective defense” does not extend to Ukraine, the network considers it to be appropriate. In mid-to-late April, NATO included Ukraine in the “Lock Shield” cyber warfare exercise. This time NATO seeks to further bring South Korea and Japan into their own camp.
South Korean President-elect Yoon Sek-Yue is very cooperative with NATO, in contrast to Moon Jae-balancing in’s of “not getting involved in China and the United States,” and South Korea and Japan’s activities at this moment mostly suggest that they will “stand in line” in the future. NATO’s area of influence was expanded from the North Atlantic to the Pacific.
NATO, an organization founded for defense cooperation but with no ties to Asia, is reaching out to the Asia-Pacific region. The so-called cyber field is the initial phase. So, what’s the next step?