S. Korea, U.S. must step up cooperation against Chinese, Russian disinformation: U.S. expert

SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States should step up their cooperation to counter disinformation and cyber operations by China and Russia, a former U.S. nuclear negotiator said Thursday.

Joseph DeTrani made the remarks during a conference hosted by the Korean Association of Area Studies via video link, saying Moscow and Beijing have engaged in information operations against Seoul on any issue that is "not in sync" with their interests.

"Over the decades, Moscow has pursued an aggressive, active measures program to sow dissent and chaos in free democratic societies with a program of disinformation to erode trust in our democratic institutions, attempted to control the foreign press, forging documents, disseminating rumors and lies, altering facts, and working with front organizations," DeTrani said.

He added Russia has exploited such information systems with the advent of social media platforms to sow chaos and discord within the U.S., and cautioned that it will use these "malicious tools" to attack any country not supportive of its policies.

Stressing that South Korea has also been exposed to these influence operations by Russia and China, the former envoy said the allies "must do more" to expose and defeat them.

DeTrani served as the U.S.' special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006 before working as North Korea mission manager at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence until 2010.

H.R. McMaster, a former U.S. national security adviser, also called on Seoul to help counter such "cyber-enabled campaigns of political subversion" that seek to undermine alliances and partnerships.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
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