On June 5, the national security offices of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan held their fourth trilateral economic security dialogue and shared their respective directions for data security.
This comes after South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to close cooperation on data security in consultations with the U.S. following the Line Yahoo incident.
In addition, the three countries agreed to strengthen their cooperation by exploring joint investment opportunities in critical minerals and accelerating joint research on key emerging technologies.
The National Security Office of South Korea, the National Security Council (NSC) of the U.S., and the National Security Bureau of Japan held the 4th Trilateral Economic Security Dialogue in San Diego, USA, and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in four areas:
- Supply chains
- Key emerging technologies
- Digital security
- Infrastructure security
In the digital field, the three countries agreed to continuously discuss ways to establish global AI governance, reflecting the values of safety, innovation, and inclusion agreed upon by President Yoon Suk Yeol at the AI Seoul Summit in May.
According to the Presidential Office, the three countries agreed to share each other’s data security issues and directions and to cooperate closely.
Previously, the Japanese government pressured South Korean company Naver to sell its stake in Line Yahoo through administrative guidance from the Ministry of General Affairs, causing controversy. However, the Presidential Office stepped in to block the stake sale.
At the May 26 Korea-Japan summit, Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to communicate to prevent the Line Yahoo issue from escalating.
While the sale of Line Yahoo shares was blocked, the data of 96 million Japanese users stored in South Korea’s Naver Cloud data center is expected to be transferred to Japan, minimizing the conflict between Korea and Japan through this data transfer compromise.
The three countries also agreed to actively cooperate in implementing key infrastructure security policies.
Regarding supply chains, the three countries evaluated that the Early Warning System (EWS) linkage between the security offices is being established and agreed to explore joint investment opportunities in critical minerals.
In April, the national research institutes of the three countries signed an agreement for joint research cooperation in the field of key emerging technologies. The experts from each country agreed to promptly identify joint research tasks.
The three countries plan to strengthen cooperation by sharing information among the technology protection law enforcement authorities centered on the Disruptive Technology Protection Network launched in April.
This meeting follows the third meeting held in Busan in March, and the three countries agreed to hold the fifth meeting in the second half of this year.
At the meeting, Third Deputy Director of the National Security Office Wang Yun Jong represented South Korea. Tarun Chhabra, NSC Senior Director for Technology and National Security, represented the U.S., and Yasuo Takamura, Cabinet Counsellor of the National Security Bureau, represented Japan.
