Lim Jong-deuk, the second deputy director of the National Security Office, is set to attend the NATO Cyber Champions Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania from Monday, according to the presidential office.

The meeting's purpose is to prepare for the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, which Lithuania will host in July, with a focus on expanding and strengthening global cooperation to combat advanced cybersecurity threats. In addition to NATO members, key partners from the Asia-Pacific region, including South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, have been invited to attend the high-level meeting.

The core topics of the summit will be centered on "protecting core infrastructure from new technologies," with participating countries hearing and discussing ways to enhance international cooperation on cybersecurity. Lim will engage in discussions on expanding cybersecurity cooperation with various multilateral consultative bodies such as NATO, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, AUKUS (Australia, the UK and the US), and Five Eyes (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US).

Following the summit, Lim will visit the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, to meet with director Mart Noorma. He will receive a detailed briefing on the progress of "Locked Shields," an international cyber defense exercise organized by NATO from April 18 to 21, and discuss ways to cooperate with NATO for training development, with a focus on South Korea's role.

Since 2021, South Korea has participated in the "Locked Shields" training, and this year, a 57-member joint defense team consisting of public institutions, military personnel and private experts will participate in cyberspace defense training, covering infrastructure, finance and defense.