S. Korea, U.S., Japan to launch high-level cyber consultation group

South Korea, the United States and Japan have agreed to launch a high-level cyber consultation group to come up with ways to block North Korean cyber activities that fund its missile and nuclear programs, the South's presidential office said Monday, Yonhap reports.

The decision was reached during a trilateral meeting involving Deputy National Security Adviser In Seong-hwan, U.S. deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies Anne Neuberger and deputy head of Japan's National Security Secretariat Keiichi Ichikawa in Washington on Tuesday (local time), the office said in a press release.

The aim of the new consultation group, which will meet every quarter, is to devise measures to block North Korea's cybercrimes and strengthen the joint response capability of the three nations against global cyberthreats.

The consultation body is a follow-up to an agreement reached by President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their trilateral summit at Camp David in August to establish a trilateral working group tasked with combating North Korea's cyberthreats and cryptocurrency theft.

While in Washington, In also met separately with Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator Darren Goldie last Monday, and the two sides agreed to work to jointly identify and respond to common threats, including by quickly forming a bilateral working group to define the scope of cooperation, the presidential office said.