S. Korea, U.S. agree to join forces to fight cyber terrorism

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States have forged a
tentative agreement to join forces in fighting cyber terrorism against their
defense networks, the defense ministry in Seoul said Monday.

The April 30 deal is aimed at "enhancing the interoperability of the information
systems used by the militaries of the U.S. and South Korea," the Ministry of
National Defense said in a release.
The memorandum of understanding between the allies mainly seeks to facilitate the
exchange of knowledge on detecting and fighting cyber terrorism, the ministry
said.
The U.S. is South Korea's closest ally and maintains a force of 28,500 here as a
deterrent against North Korea. The two countries fought together under the U.N.
banner in the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended without a formal peace treaty.
South Korea, which operates a weapons system similar to that of the U.S., took
part last year in a U.S.-led international anti-hacking exercise for the first
time.
The two sides will hold a conference on their joint readiness against computer
hacking at least once a year, according to their agreement.
Last month, U.S. media reported that a high-tech jet fighter program operated by
the Pentagon had been breached. U.S. computer networks come under persistent
attack, possibly from other countries, according to the reports.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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