Introduction

The introduction’s main objective is to explain to the readers why they are reading what they are reading, reflecting the shared commitment of the editors and authors to invest in three areas for cyber cooperation between the European Union (EU) and South Korea running through the book: digital economy, cyber threats and rules-based cooperation. The common incentives for the EU and South Korea to cooperate in these areas are trade conflicts over digital technology between the US and China, growing cyber threats worldwide, and the real danger of a cyber arms race. In identifying the similarity and to some extent the complementarity of policies followed by the EU and South Korea, the authors of this volume deal with the most salient issues of cyber security and make a strong case for enhancing cooperation in deeds not only in words, bilaterally and globally. The introduction also explains the book’s aim, target audience, focus and outline. The primary objective of this volume is to tap the potential of EU-South Korea cooperation to build a peacetime regime for cyberspace based on shared norms, rules and values. Another objective is to bring together, for the first time, scattered and fragmented knowledge and ongoing interdisciplinary research about cybersecurity in a structured and coherent manner. This volume serves a wider audience consisting of public sector policymakers, military and law enforcement officers, private sector cyber security experts, lawyers, media, civil society, and scholars and students in a variety of fields and disciplines. Though the focus is mainly on the EU and South Korea, the book also takes into consideration the perspective of China. The book is divided into three main sections: Section 1 ‘Rationale for cybersecurity cooperation between the European Union (EU) and South Korea’ tackles the question ‘why’ the EU and South Korea should cooperate in the field of cybersecurity. Section 2 ‘Comparisons’ covers three themes (cyber arms control, cyber defence and digital investigations) from a Korean and European perspective. Section 3 ‘International order and cross-cutting issues’ moves the analysis beyond the EU-South Korean angle identifying cross-cutting issues in the field of cybersecurity and the ongoing efforts with the United Nation (UN) system to advance international cybersecurity governance.