The newly elected South Korean government of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, which will take office on Tuesday May 10, is already moving to join with the U.S. and NATO on expanding NATO’s reach into the Asia-Pacific. Yoon told VOA last week that “South Korea needs to do more than merely expressing that we agree with U.S. policies or that we stand with the U.S. but actually labor over global issues together with the U.S.”
On Thursday May 5, before the new government even takes power, South Korea’s state National Intelligence Service joined the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, a cyber defense hub established by NATO in May 2008 in Estonia, focussed on research, training, and exercises in the field of cybersecurity. South Korea is the first Asian country to join — also before the new pro-NATO government takes over.
Global Times expressed China’s response editorially: “By cooperating with South Korea’s spy agency, the U.S.-led NATO is attempting to turn the Northeast Asian country into a chess piece to contain China and Russia in the realm of cyber defense ... paving the way for the interference of Western forces in regional geopolitical affairs.”
President-elect Yoon also called for South Korea to become a member of the anti-China QUAD (U.S., Japan, Australia, and India), which has a summit in Tokyo on May 24.
