North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to point to a spot south of South Korea's capital in this image released by the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on April 11, 2023. (Rodong Sinmun)
SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. and South Korea for the first time are developing plans for combating wartime disinformation as part of a broader military exercise underway throughout the country.
U.S. Forces Korea, the National Intelligence Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Korea Communications Commission met at an unspecified command center Tuesday to respond to North Korea’s “gray zone provocations,” or the spread of false information, according to a Ministry of National Defense news release Thursday.
Officials discussed potential threats, including spoofed government messages and viral, manipulated videos, the release said. USFK did not immediately respond Friday to an emailed request for comment about the meeting.
The disinformation conference was one element of Ulchi Freedom Shield, 11 days of air, land and sea training between the U.S. and South Korea. The exercise kicked off Aug. 19 and includes roughly 2,000 sorties by 200 aircraft, counterterrorism drills in Seoul and tests of the country’s ability to respond to a cyberattack, according to the National Defense Ministry.
Tuesday’s meeting was “an important steppingstone” for a government-wide response to disinformation, particularly in light of real-world cases from the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, the ministry said.
The State Department and Defense Department have long accused the Russian government and Hamas of spreading disinformation to advance their interests on their respective fronts.
Russia-affiliated websites have been linked to the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and the proliferation of “Kremlin talking points with detailed knowledge of military systems and ongoing conflicts,” according to a State Department report in August 2020.
North Korea has also tapped into cyberspace to spread its propaganda to the South, according to a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report in September 2021.
Seoul’s intelligence agencies accused the North of mimicking websites to steal data and spread malware, a practice known as spoofing, last year and alleged the communist regime was behind the hacking that left North Korean propaganda on government websites in 2013.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency frequently publishes statements accusing Seoul and Washington of destabilizing the region and claiming North Korean success in technological feats.
Following the successful launch of a spy satellite on Nov. 21, North Korea claimed the device took high-quality photos of U.S. military assets and the White House.
South Korea’s military alleged in February that the satellite was indeed orbiting in space but showed no indication it was transmitting images back to the North.
North Korea’s Foreign Affairs Ministry described the ongoing Ulchi Freedom exercise as a “beheading operation” and said it was offensive in nature, according to a KCNA report Sunday.
