U.S.-Republic of Korea Joint Statement on Cyberpolicy Talks

The Governments of the United States and the Republic of Korea held the third bilateral Cyber Policy Consultations in Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK) on August 26, 2014. The United States head of delegation was Christopher Painter, Coordinator for Cyber Issues at the Department of State, and he was joined by representatives of the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce, and Justice. Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, also joined the consultations. The ROK delegation was led by Ambassador for International Security Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Choi Sung-joo who was joined by representatives of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Ministry of National Defense, Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, and the Korea Internet Security Agency.

The Cyber Policy Consultations reinforced the cooperation between the United States and ROK on a wide range of cyber issues, including the assessment of cyber threats, development of international norms of state behavior in cyberspace and cyber confidence-building measures, cooperation in building the cybersecurity capacity of developing countries, Internet governance and the importance of a multistakeholder approach, cooperation in enhancing cybersecurity, including that of critical infrastructure, and cooperation in international fora, such as the 2015 Netherlands Conference on Cyberspace. In addition, the delegations of the United States and the ROK discussed issues of common interest on the upcoming ITU Plenipotentiary Conference to be held in Busan, Korea in October 2014. Delegations also reviewed the progress made in the U.S.-ROK Cyber Defense Policy Working Group and looked forward to the second U.S.-ROK Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Policy Forum that will be held in Seoul.

Both sides reaffirmed their shared objective of an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable cyberspace, including continued support for the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. Coordinator Painter and Ambassador Choi agreed to hold the next Cyber Policy Consultations in Washington, DC in 2015.