The Defense Ministry plans to develop its military plan to respond to a variety of North Korean cyber attack scenarios and bolster its personnel to cope with the newly emerging threat, the ministry said in its policy briefing to President Park Geun-hye on Monday.

Seoul has been increasingly focusing on its cyber and electronic warfare capabilities as Pyongyang has launched a series of attacks employing thousands of its special troops including those based in China. In recent years, its cyber attacks crippled a number of major government and business websites in the South.

“In the cyber-related realm, there are three major parts to cooperate with the U.S., which are policy, technology and information sharing,” a senior ministry official told reporters, noting the allies would build a joint coordination body on cyber issues within this year.

The Ministry reaffirmed it would seek to retake wartime operational control from Washington as slated for December 2015 and forge a new combined command structure that would preserve the current level of cohesion with the U.S.

Conservatives have been calling for Seoul to reconsider the OPCON transfer due to North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threats.

Regarding the OPCON transfer, the ministry said that it would “exhaustively” verify the changing threat environment and ensure the level of preparedness before the transfer, stressing it would try its utmost to assuage growing public security concerns.

As for the envisioned allied command structure, Seoul and Washington would agree on “its basic concept” when the two countries’ Joint Chiefs of Staff chairmen meet for their annual Military Committee Meeting to take place in the middle of this month in Washington.

They are to finalize the new structure at the allies’ annual Security Consultative Meeting slated for October, Seoul officials explained.

After the OPCON transfer, their current Combined Forces Command is to be dissolved.

Some experts have expressed concern that scrapping the structure, which has been refined and improved over the past six decades, would send the wrong signal to the North and weaken the allies’ military cooperation.

Regarding Park’s election pledge to shorten mandatory military service by three months to 18 months, the ministry said it would push for it as part of a mid- and long-term defense plan, stressing that “adequate conditions” for it should be forged first.

The plan has raised concern that it could result in a troop shortage and weaken the country’s combat capabilities. Park earlier said that she plans to address it by hiring non-commissioned officers.

The Defense Ministry forecast should the plan be implemented from this year, the military would suffer an annual shortage of around 27,000 troops by 2030. The shortage could worsen in the coming decades given the country’s shrinking and aging population, experts pointed out.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)