By Diplomacy Journal Kayla Lee

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-hosted a roundtable with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) on July 14 to promote and deepen discussions between the government and domestic experts in preparation for the 2025 World Emerging Security Forum (WESF), scheduled to be held on September 8, 2025.

The World Emerging Security Forum has been organized annually by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2021 to actively contribute to the international community’s efforts to address emerging security threats, bringing together experts from government, the private sector, and academia.

The roundtable, held under the theme “The Evolution of Hybrid Threats and International Security,” brought together over 200 participants, including Ambassador for International Cyber Affairs Lee Taewoo, Director of the KAIST Institute for Security Convergence Research Bae Joongmyeon, and Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Dan Smith, as well as experts from various sectors.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Lee emphasized that today's security threats are increasingly characterized by “hybrid threats”—a complex mix of military and non-military threats, physical and digital attacks, and actions by both state and non-state actors.

Experts stressed the importance of developing systematic indicators to measure threat levels and build more concrete and structured responses.

Participants emphasized the necessity of establishing international norms and governance frameworks and called for an all-of-society approach involving government, businesses, academia, and civil society. There was broad agreement on the need for greater public awareness and resilience-building to effectively respond to hybrid threats.

This roundtable served as a reaffirmation of the importance of establishing a domestic network that brings together the collective intelligence and capabilities of the public, private, and academic sectors to address hybrid threats, which are fundamentally transforming the nature of international security.

Based on discussions from the event, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to host the 2025 World Emerging Security Forum on September 8, bringing together stakeholders from government, international organizations, businesses, and academia to seek collaborative responses to hybrid threats.