Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Minh Hong said Vietnam and South Korea had well established information and communication technology (ICT) relations and have obtained significant achievements. Boosting information security cooperation in various aspects, like institutional development support and human resource training, will be a top priority in bilateral cooperation in the near future.
South Korean Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Moon Seok Yang said Vietnam has dynamic IT development, which was demonstrated by its annual growth rates and the presence of foreign investors. Therefore, South Korea wants to enhance IT cooperation with Vietnam. Especially, the two countries have strengthened close and practical cooperation in various fields like public administration, service provision cooperation, human resources research and development cooperation, telecom and television cooperation, IT infrastructure construction cooperation, IT application, e-government, and IT socialisation cooperation. In July 2009, a series of South Korean government websites were hacked. The Korea Internet Security Centre (KrCERT) sent letters to its members in other countries for help. Vietnamese security experts helped find sources of the attack and caught the attention of South Korea. Accordingly, on the visit of South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak in October 2009, the two governments reached an agreement on IT cooperation. Vietnam also sent its IT specialists to South Korea to acquire information security and build e-government. Especially, in May 2011, the Vietnam – Korea Information Technology Cooperation Centre (ITCC) under the Applied Information Technology Department started official operations. The presence of ITCC served as a window of ICT cooperation between Vietnam and South Korea. ITCC financed US$700,000 to 26 projects from 2011 to 2012.
Promoting ICT cooperation agreements and programmes between the two countries, on February 8, 2012, during a working visit to Vietnam by the Korean Communications Committee led by Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Moon Seok Yang, the Vietnam Software Association (VINASA) and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on ICT cooperation to strengthen cooperation ties, especially between ICT companies in both nations. Accordingly, VINASA and KISA will promote cooperation in four areas: Sharing and exchanging policies of IT services development; expanding business cooperation between ICT enterprises; expanding cooperation in ICT personnel training and education, especially information security; and organising forums and seminars on IT development.
Mr Suh Jong Ryeol, KISA President, said that KISA hoped the newly-signed MoU would begin a new development in IT cooperation between RoK and Vietnam. Internet and information security were major concerns of various governments after a series of recent hacker attacks. Thus, he hoped that the MOU signing with VINASA will be the first step to further cooperation development between Vietnam and South Korea in the IT sector in general, and in information and Internet security and PC rescue in particular. Besides, under this MoU, the two countries’ businesses would have advantages to access and penetrate each other’s markets. At present, the Government of Vietnam was focusing on promoting ICT security and applications, and e-government. Meanwhile, South Korea possesses advanced IT infrastructure, has extensive experience and secrets about e-government and security and it was willing to share its experience with the Government of Vietnam. Mr Ryeol said: “KISA will make every effort to support the cooperation between South Korean IT enterprises and their Vietnamese peers.”
Mr Pham Tan Cong, VINASA Vice President, said: To become a country with a powerful ICT industry, Vietnam needs to focus on high-level personnel training to turn IT into a key economic sector and develop output markets for enterprises. He hoped that by joining hands with KISA, VINASA would gain experience in building development strategies in the field of IT services. Moreover, member enterprises of VINASA will have more cooperation opportunities with their South Korean business partners.
In the past three years, KISA has invited 181 Vietnamese officials and business representatives to Korea for short-term security training. These training courses will be extended from the current one week to two weeks. KISA will serve as a bridge for South Korean enterprises to send specialists to support Vietnam with specific plans.
As regards computer emergency response support, KISA has collaborated with the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) and the Information - Communications Development Institute (VGSIC). A number of specific joint activities have generated good results. VNCERT has helped KISA to delete leaked personal information displayed on Vietnamese websites. KISA has also shared information on incidents and attacks with Vietnam.
Anh Quan
Vietnamese
