As China, Russia escalate cognitive warfare, experts say Seoul needs counterstrategy
As China and Russia ramp up sophisticated cognitive warfare targeting the Korean Peninsula, experts at a Seoul forum urged the South Korean government to craft a counterstrategy grounded in objective, professional assessments of both countries' capabilities.
The Korean Association of Area Studies co-hosted the seminar themed, 'Security Threats of Cognitive Warfare and Trump's Second-term Strategy on China,' on Friday with the Institute for National Security Strategy and the Sejong Institute at the ROKAUS Hotel in Seoul.
The seminar featured two sessions: Session 1, 'Cognitive Warfare Security Threats and Complex Crisis on the Korean Peninsula,' and Session 2, 'Trump's Second-term China Strategy and Regional Hybrid Threats," according to the three co-host organizations.
Lee Ho-ryoung, president of the Korean Association of Area Studies, said in her opening remarks, 'North Korea is intensifying its 'invisible cognitive warfare,' such as cyber influence operations and GPS jamming.'
'Therefore, a comprehensive, all-encompassing response is needed to counter the cognitive warfare targeting the Korean Peninsula by revisionist powers, including China and Russia," Lee said.
Han Suk-hee, president of the Institute for National Security Strategy, assessed that 'China favors hybrid warfare, such as ppsychological division and information operations shaping public opinion, over direct military conflict" in his congratulatory address.
"China is pursuing a strategy to sow division between the United States and its allies by intervening in issues like historical disputes between Korea and Japan and controversies over weapons system acquisitions.'
Experts at the seminar shared the view that cognitive warfare threats from China and Russia targeting the Korean Peninsula are evolving and emphasized the need for proportional responses by the South Korean government, according to the press statement by the three co-hosting organizations.
The experts specifically recommended that the Korean government encourage diverse research on cognitive warfare and conduct objective, professional assessments of Chinese and Russian cognitive warfare strategies.
In addition, the experts stressed that the new South Korean administration, which will take office after the June 3 early presidential election, should incorporate cognitive warfare threats and response measures into the national security strategy to lay the groundwork for building a government-wide cognitive warfare response system.
The experts also emphasized the importance of drawing lessons from the characteristics of cognitive warfare identified in recent conflicts such as the Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war in the process of developing the strategy.
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