OpenAI Launches Cyber Defense Program in South Korea

Seoul, South Korea - OpenAI has formalized South Korea's participation in its Trusted Access for Cyber program, granting the country's government and public institutions access to its cybersecurity artificial intelligence models to counter advanced cyber threats.

South Korea becomes the third country — following the United States and Canada, and alongside Japan — to join the Government/Institutional TAC initiative. 

OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon announced the Korea Cyber Action Plan in Seoul on Wednesday, outlining a framework to provide critical infrastructure and domestic enterprises with access to AI cyber defense capabilities.

Under the agreement, the South Korean government will gain access to GPT-5.5 Cyber, an OpenAI model configured for cybersecurity operations. 

The deployment is intended to counter AI-driven cyber threats, referred to in the industry as Mythos Shock. 

According to security evaluations by the United Kingdom's AI Safety Institute, GPT-5.5 Cyber demonstrated defensive capabilities that exceeded those of Anthropic's Mythos Preview model.

The Korea Internet & Security Agency will manage the program's implementation. 

The South Korean government is also pursuing participation in Anthropic's security framework, Project Glasswing, to diversify its security channels.

The Ministry of Science and ICT reported that during a meeting on Tuesday between Kwon and Second Vice Minister Je-myung Ryu, the ministry requested a formal collaborative relationship between Korea's AI Safety Institute and OpenAI to conduct joint research on AI safety evaluations. OpenAI said it is reviewing the proposal.

OpenAI also signed two memoranda of understanding on Tuesday. 

The company partnered with the Korea Water Resources Corporation to develop an AI-based water-disaster response system to support climate change adaptation. 

A separate agreement with the Korea Technology Finance Corporation centers on using AI to evaluate startup technologies, business models, and market data.

OpenAI disclosed usage figures for the South Korean market during the briefing. 

Globally, ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly active users and serves more than one million enterprise clients. 

South Korea ranks among the top 10 global markets for ChatGPT across weekly active users, enterprise customers, and paid subscribers.

South Korean weekly active users of the coding tool ChatGPT Codex have increased tenfold since the beginning of the year, placing the country in the top five globally for Codex engagement.