외교부

Keynote Speech 
by H.E. Mr. Kim Sung-Han Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
of the Republic of Korea

at the Budapest Conference on Cyberspace

4 October 2012
Budapest, Hungary


H.E. Mr. Victor Orbán (빅토르 오르반), Prime Minister of Hungary
H.E. Mr. János Martonyi (야노쉬 머르또니), Minister of Foreign Affairs
Excellencies and Distinguished Participants,

( Introduction )

It is a great honor for me to be here at the Budapest Conference on Cyberspace. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the Government of Hungary for organizing this important conference.

The rapid development of information and communications technologies (ICT) and the Internet over the past twenty years have steadily expanded the domain of cyberspace. The global digital networks are changing every aspect and dimension of our lives including politics, economy, society and international relations.

As Alvin Toffler foresaw earlier, the interconnected digital networks have ushered us toward the Information Age, where a significant amount of information is widely available to people, and information and knowledge have become a primary source of power. Furthermore, information and communications technologies (ICT) are empowering non-state actors by breaking the state’s tight control over information.

Recent developments of information and communications technologies (ICT) embodied in smart phones, cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IOT) will further extend the frontier of cyberspace by connecting objects as well as humans to the networks.

( Opportunities and Challenges of Cyberspace )

Distinguished Participants,

The Internet has been a crucial driving force for the growth and innovation of the global economy by enabling wide use of e-Commerce, e-Banking and others. Moreover, the global digital economy allows “human centered” products and services to satisfy diverse demands of consumers. In addition, converged information and communications technologies (ICT) offer a platform to improve energy efficiency and facilitate “green growth.”

Today, cyberspace is a public arena and market place where people can meet, talk and trade with one another. The Internet and the Social Networking Services (SNS) are important tools to promote democratic participation and advance human rights. They can also play a major role in improving the transparency and accountability of governments. The impacts of the new media on democratic transition were well proven in “the Arab Spring.”

Furthermore, cyberspace can give us a tool to promote cross-cultural understanding. If one uploads contents on the Internet, people around the globe are able to watch them and give feedback on them.

On the other hand, despite such opportunities and benefits, there exist a number of challenges in cyberspace that we have to address, namely, cyber crimes, personal data loss, malicious contents including pornography, cyber bullying, and Internet addiction among others. In addition, information and communications technologies (ICT) could be misused to threaten international peace and security as in cases of cyber attacks on critical infrastructures.

( Ways forward )

Distinguished Participants,

The international community should make continuous and collective efforts to preserve and increase the opportunities and benefits of cyberspace while reducing its risks and challenges. In this regard, let me briefly offer some thoughts on possible ways forward.

Firstly, for cyberspace to continue to be an engine for growth, innovation, democracy and cultural diversity, it must be an “open and free space” where all people can freely exchange their views and ideas. In this way, the international community could take full advantages of cyberspace as an open market of ideas and expressions. If there is a need to regulate cyberspace, it should be kept at a necessary minimum.

Secondly, since the Internet has become essential and indispensable for businesses, governments and individuals, it is imperative for cyberspace to be a “safe, secure and trusted domain.” In this regard, we should develop technologies and mechanisms to secure the reliability and integrity of sensitive data and prevent possible disruption in the free flow of information.

Moreover, in order to effectively tackle borderless cyber crimes, it is necessary for law enforcement agencies to closely cooperate with each other. It is also important that every state has a domestic legal system in place to hold cyber criminals accountable.

Thirdly, the international community should develop confidence building measures (CBMs) and explore norms of behavior in cyberspace in order to avoid potential cyber conflicts among states.

I believe that confidence building measures (CBMs) are one of the most urgent and practical steps to ensure transparency and reduce misperception in cyberspace. The CBMs should be easy to implement. Such measures may include the establishment of crisis communications channels in the event of cyber incidents, exchange of information and strategies on cyber security, and support for capacity-building in cyber security in developing countries. Regional security organizations such as OSCE and ARF would play an important role to this end.

In addition, we would like to see a tangible progress in the discussions on norms of behavior applicable to cyberspace in the United Nations Governmental Group of Experts (GGE) and other fora.

Lastly, we need to make efforts to bridge the digital divide by supporting developing countries to increase their access to the Internet. The solid Internet infrastructure in those countries would be powerful tools to achieve economic development, a transparent and effective government, better health and education system as well as enhanced disaster management.

In this consideration, the Korean government has been working with around twenty partner countries in e-Government projects every year. Korea is a strong supporter of “UN Asian and Pacific Training Centre for ICT for Development” and “Trans Eurasian Information Network (TEIN) Cooperation Centre.”

( Conclusion )

Distinguished Participants,

This Conference is a high level forum covering comprehensive cyber issues with the participation of multi-stakeholders including senior government officials, industry leaders, and representatives of the Internet technical community and civil society. I believe that the conference should develop into a framework of discourse for the international community to take a critical and comprehensive review of the state of play in developing international norms in cyberspace and to renew our commitments to move forward such efforts in the common interest of international community.

It is with this conviction that the Korean Government has decided to host the follow-up Conference on Cyberspace in Seoul from 17 to 18 October 2013. Korea, as one of the most connected societies in the globe, has gained a great deal from the fastest broadband, e-Government, e-Commerce, and so on. Nonetheless, it has experienced several massive-scale Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. We are also faced with other various challenges arising from cyberspace.

I am confident that Korea’s experience will contribute to the discussion to be carried out in the Conference. Next year’s gathering will be another good opportunity to explore constructive ways to develop an open and secure cyberspace, building on the achievements of the London and Budapest Conferences and other international fora.

I look forward to most positive and productive discussions today and tomorrow.

Thank you.
 

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