On August 13th, Sungwon Lee, Director of the Center for Security Strategy gave a presentation on "- Rising Geopolitical Conflict and Potential Threats over Undersea Cables: Security Implications for South Korea" at the 16th Colloquium.

The discussion was moderated by Yoon Jung Choi, Vice President of the Sejong Institute.

The world is completely dependent on undersea cables to transmit and receive data critical to the management of the state, such as military, diplomatic, and financial information, and securing autonomous influence and stable management of submarine communication networks is directly related to national security. Damage to undersea cables can result in the disruption or halt of cross-border information networks and cause widespread economic losses to related industries.

Attacks on undersea cables can be categorized into physical sabotage or cyberattacks, and the frequency and scope of damage are expected to increase as AI-based analyzing technologies can simultaneously collect and interpret data and track threat detection activities.

Attacks on undersea cables are often characterized as gray-zone tactics, and attribution of responsibility is not easy to establish, so military responses in situations where the perpetrating actor is unclear and could trigger legal risks. There is a lack of guidance on proactive measures to protect these cables.

The capabilities of domestic submarine cables and the technical understanding of their protection, management, and repair vary widely across industries and ministries, and the issue of undersea cables protection cannot be approached from a military or industrial perspective. However, it must be addressed from an integrated perspective and in close cooperation between various stakeholders.​