Cyber Command Participates in the 'World's Largest' Cyber Defense Exercise

Upgraded from Observer Country Last Year to Official Partner Country This Year

The Republic of Korea Armed Forces is participating for the first time in the world's largest cyber defense coalition exercise, "Cyber Coalition 2023," hosted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The Cyber Operations Command announced that the ROK military will participate as a partner nation in "Cyber Coalition," held from the 27th of this month to the 1st of next month in Tallinn, Estonia. Eleven personnel from the Cyber Operations Command have been dispatched to the site.

Started in 2008, Cyber Coalition is an annual exercise aimed at mastering defense strategies and tactics against cyberattacks, as well as promoting the sharing of specialized skills and information and strengthening cooperation among participating countries. Although the ROK military participated as an observer for the first time last year, this is the first time it is joining as an official partner nation. This year, a total of 35 countries, including Korea, are participating.

This year’s exercise is conducted under the assumption of a cyberattack on a virtual national critical infrastructure, sharing threat information among participating countries and deriving the most effective response methods. The ROK military will practice tactical defense operation procedures to detect, investigate, analyze, and recover from cyberattacks by opposing forces on the nation’s critical infrastructure.

In May last year, Korea became the first Asian country to join the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) as a full member. Following that, in June of the same year, during the NATO summit held in Madrid, Spain, Korea established a permanent mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium, seeking to strengthen cooperation with NATO in various ways. Korea is also expanding exchanges in the cyber security field, having participated for the first time in October last year in the multinational joint cyber defense exercise "Cyber Flag," hosted by the U.S. Cyber Command, and participating again in the exercise held in July this year.