1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, in his capacity as head delegate of the government of the Republic of Korea, will attend the Global Conference on Cyberspace (GCC) 2015 set to take place in The Hague, the Netherlands, on April 16 and 17. The meeting will bring together some 1,600 people, including delegates from 15 international organizations as well as governments, enterprises and civil societies of 100-odd countries. At its opening ceremony, the Foreign Minister, as chair of the GCC 2013, will deliver a keynote speech.

* The ROK delegation will be composed of officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, the National Police Agency and the Korea Communications Commission.

2. In his speech, Minister Yun will bring renewed attention to the gravity of growing cybersecurity threats as demonstrated by the hacking attacks on Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. and Sony Entertainment Network; underscore the need to step up international cooperation to counter such threats; and propose that the international community focus on building a “healthy global cyber ecosystem,” which will help reap maximum benefits offered by cyberspace and proactively deal with potential threats.

3. The GCC was first held in London in 2011 to develop international action agenda for building an open and safe cyberspace and to promote international cooperation in that regard. The forthcoming round will be the fourth of its kind, following the ones held in Budapest and Seoul in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

◦ Not only government officials but also experts from such various sectors as enterprises, civil societies and academic circles will attend the meeting to mainly cover international peace and security; ways to build cyberspace safe for use by enterprises and the public; ways to sustain economic growth and technological innovation; and ways to better protect privacy. In conjunction with the meeting, side events will take place on diverse topics.

4. The ROK, for the first time among the Asia-Pacific countries, hosted a GCC in Seoul in 2013. The ROK exerted leadership in the meeting as its chair country by covering capacity building for global cybersecurity as one of its six key agenda items and by drawing up the “Seoul Framework for and Commitment to Open and Secure Cyberspace,” thereby playing a role in enhancing the international visibility of the GCC.

5. On the sidelines of the multilateral meeting, Minister Yun will meet bilaterally with his Dutch and Australian counterparts, Bert Koenders and Julie Bishop. In the meetings, the two sides will exchange views on matters of mutual concern, including key bilateral issues; ways to work more closely together on the international stage; and the situations in different regions of the world. 


                Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation