The U.S. and South Korea agreed in a joint statement May 2 to explore areas of mutual value and benefit, possibly leading to joint activities, to enhance cyber security and resilience.
Signed by Reginald Brother, U.S. Undersecretary of Homeland Security for the Science and Technology Directorate , and Jae-Yoo Choi, South Korean 2nd Vice-Minister for the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning, the parties declared they also intend to advance a dialogue to establish the terms for technical cooperation which may lead to “sharing and securing sensitive or proprietary information, as appropriate, to ensure continued cooperation and collaboration in cyber security matters and, wherever possible, coordinated responses to new or emerging threats.”
Although the joint statement of intent is not legally binding, the U.S. and South Korea noted they have a common objective in promoting and developing cooperation in cybersecurity and seek to make the best use of their respective best practices to eliminate unnecessary duplication of work.
The parties seek to “obtain the most efficient and cost effective results through cooperative partnerships,” and desire to “exchange information and available resources in areas pertinent to the identification of threats to cyber security and the development of technical standards,” the document said in is preamble.
The statement was signed in Seoul.