S.Korean national police agency sets up cyber bureau

SEOUL - South Korea's national police agency on Wednesday established a cyber bureau to strengthen its national cyber security.

The new cyber bureau, consisting of three divisions including 12 teams and 111 staff, aims at guaranteeing a comprehensive cyber safety system that does more than just reactive responses, the national police agency said in a press release.

With the vision "Cyber space: Safe for the People, Reliable for the Business," the cyber bureau devised a "Basic plan for securing a safer cyberspace" which consists of 20 action plans under six categories, the agency said.

It plans to provide services that focus on prevention, detect signs of cyber infringement threats in advance and stage proactive responses.

The new cyber bureau will also focus on enhancing investigation capacity to root out cyber crimes, including expediting international cooperation and creating a cooperative policing system that brings in the participation of domestic agencies, private sector and citizens.

To better respond to the fast changing cyber environment, the agency added, the cyber bureau will reinforce R&D for the upcoming future as well as nurture expertise in both human and material resources to secure the safety of its people.

South Korea has been frequently suffered by cyber attack in recent years. On 20 March 2013, a suspected act of cyberwarfare paralyzed tens of thousands of computers and servers of local TV stations and banks. Another cyber attack happened later in 2013 temporarily closed several websites of government agencies including the presidential office and the conservative ruling party.