South Korea is in talks with the United States to join the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC), a group of governments committed to protecting online freedoms, when President Yoon Suk Yeol visits Washington next week, a senior presidential official said Monday.
The FOC was launched in 2011 with the aim of protecting and promoting online freedoms at home and abroad. It currently has 36 members, including the U.S., which this year serves as the rotational chair.
South Korea's participation in the coalition is under discussion, and could be finalized and written in text in a joint statement following Yoon's summit with U.S. President Joe Biden on April 26, the official told Yonhap News Agency.
Last week, a senior South Korean government official told reporters in Washington the allies plan to adopt a document on boosting cyber security cooperation during the upcoming summit.
The document will likely contain measures to increase information-sharing and analysis between the two countries, according to the official.
The emphasis on information-sharing is seen as an attempt to allay public concerns following recent news reports on documents allegedly leaked from the Pentagon containing information that the U.S. eavesdropped on conversations at South Korea's presidential office.
Source: Yonhap News Agency