Korea Uni Sets Up Cyber Defense Course

Cyber terrorists of the future will need to be even more sophisticated than they are now as South Korea is set to establish its first academic program dedicated to training military officials specializing in countering cyber warfare.

The main focus of the program at Korea University will be threats from North Korea, the Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday as it announced the plan.

"We have decided to set up a cyber defense program at the Graduate School of Information Security at Korea University in order to nurture specialists needed to strengthen our cyber warfare defense system," the ministry said in a statement.

The new program will take around 30 students from the fall semester this year. The students will have their tuition waived for four years, but they will have to work for the cyber command division under the defense ministry for seven years as officers upon graduation.

Female students, who do not have to serve a mandatory military term, will have to work for the ministry for a period of four years.

Students will be required to take 155 units in 55 courses, including deciphering enemy codes and understanding cyber warfare strategy. In the final year of the curriculum, they will serve a one-year placement at the ministry to gain practical experience.

They will not have to wear uniform, unlike their peers in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps or the Korean Military Academy, and to get basic military training in their vacations.