Assessing Threats to South Korea’s Undersea Communications Cable Infrastructure

Abstract

Undersea communications cables are critical infrastructure for the national security of South Korea. As an isolated, peninsular state, South Korea de-pends on these cables as its lifeline to the international community. Nonethe-less, compared to its alliance partner the United States, South Korea desig- nates fewer of its own cable systems as critical and has no uniform approach for assessing threats and protecting this indispensable infrastructure. Using a design basis threat (DBT) framework, this paper assesses the threat envi- ronment of Northeast Asia for South Korea’s undersea communications cable infrastructure, and clarifies the role of the South Korean state in protecting this infrastructure. In order to achieve these two goals, this analysis provides a threat assessment based upon South Korea’s traditional geopolitical conditions and the submarine and cyber capabilities of regional state actors—North Korea, China, Russia, and Japan. Conclusions suggest that South Korea’s undersea cables are at risk from numerous geopolitical threats and the state should participate more actively in protecting these vital lines of communica- tion.