Choi Sang-mok, Holds Central Integrated Defense Meeting "Establishing Full-scale Security Posture"

Choi Sang-mok, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance, said on the 10th, "In a severe security environment, all civilians, government, military, police, and fire services must become a 'one team' to establish a full-scale security posture to protect the daily lives and safety of the people from various provocations by North Korea."

Acting Prime Minister Choi made these remarks while presiding over the 58th Central Integrated Defense Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in the afternoon. The Central Integrated Defense Meeting is an annual gathering of key officials from national defense sectors to evaluate the integrated defense posture and discuss development plans. More than 150 participants attended the meeting, including Cabinet members, the National Intelligence Service, metropolitan local governments, and key officials from the military, police, coast guard, and fire services.

In particular, this year's meeting focused on measures to protect the daily lives of the people and firmly safeguard the nation's security by integrating all national defense elements in response to North Korea's advancement in nuclear and missile capabilities, increased drone and cyber threats, and GPS signal jamming.

Choe Sang-mok, Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Economy and Finance, is attending the '58th Central Integrated Defense Meeting' held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 10th, participating in the national ceremony. Photo by Ministry of Economy and Finance

First, at the awards ceremony for outstanding institutions and units, Ulsan Metropolitan City, the Army 32nd Division, the Navy 3rd Fleet Command, Gangwon Police Agency, and Korea Electric Power Corporation Sinan Seong Substation, which achieved the most outstanding results in establishing the integrated defense posture last year, received commendations from the Acting President. In presentations by each institution, the National Intelligence Service presented forecasts of North Korea's threats to the South, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety evaluated civil defense readiness and future directions, and the Integrated Defense Headquarters presented last year's military readiness and integrated defense posture achievements along with plans for this year.

The core topic discussions were selected by reflecting, for the first time, the results of a public survey on various threats from North Korea. Attendees, including civilian experts such as Tak Tae-woo, Senior Researcher of Security Technology at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, and Kim Seung-joo, Professor at the Graduate School of Information Security, Korea University, discussed measures to be taken by government agencies and local governments, ways to strengthen cooperation among related organizations, and necessary legal amendments, ultimately deriving practical countermeasures.

Specifically, in the discussion on North Korea's drone threats and response measures, topics included rapid alert dissemination, integrated disruption of critical facilities and public protection measures, and the establishment of anti-drone systems by region and facility. In the discussion on North Korea's cyber threats and response measures, discussions were held on emergency recovery plans for systems attacked by cyberattacks, measures to protect computer networks, and ways to strengthen government-wide cyber threat response capabilities.

Admiral Kim Myung-soo, Chief of the Integrated Defense Headquarters, said, "Today's meeting was an important opportunity to devise effective response measures by uniting civilians, government, military, police, and fire services against the various threats we face from North Korea. The opinions raised will be turned into tasks and pursued thoroughly."