South Korea seeks Cyber weapons to target North Korea’s Nukes

South Korea is developing offensive cyber weapons to target North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, according to the country’s defense ministry. According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s Defense Ministry outlined its long-term cyber policy to the parliament’s defense committee on Wednesday, the Diplomat reported. The report stated that, “A strategic plan for the second phase calls for developing cyber tools for offense like Stuxnet, a computer virus designed to sabotage Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities, to cripple North Korea’s missile and atomic facilities.” Yonhap also quoted an anonymous senior defense official as saying, “Once the second phase plan is established, the cyber command will carry out comprehensive cyber warfare missions.” These missions will be carried out under a new Cyber Defense Command that South Korea plans to establish in May. It will operate under the purview of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to the report. South Korea first established a Cyber Command in 2010 to guard against the threat posed by North Korea’s elite unit of hackers. So far, its aims have primarily been to protect vulnerable national networks from cyber attacks originating from North Korea, as well as to wage psychological warfare campaigns against Pyongyang. The decision to equip South Korea’s cyber warriors with the capabilities to attack North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities therefore represents a dramatic escalation.