North Korean hackers reportedly stole a large cache of military documents from South Korea, reports BBC, including a plan to assassinate Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader.
A South Korean lawmaker, Rhee Cheol-hee, said the compromised documents were from South Korea’s defense ministry, though the South Korean defense ministry has refused to comment on the allegation thus far. The documents included wartime contingency plans drawn up by the U.S. and South Korea, reports BBC.
Information on significant power plants and military facilities in the South, as well as plans for the South’s special forces, were reportedly accessed, according to BBC.
According to Rhee, who belongs to South Korea’s ruling party and is on its parliament’s defense committee, about 235 gigabytes of military documents had been stolen from the Defense Integrated Data Centre, and 80 percent of them have yet to be identified, according to BBC. North Korea is thought to have specially-trained hackers based overseas, including in China. A news agency in South Korea called Yonhap reports that this is not the first cyber attack South Korea has experienced from North Korea in recent years.
BBC reports that the hack took place last September. North Korea has denied the claim and has accused South Korea of “fabricating” the claims, according to the BBC.
The news that North Korea might have accessed the Seoul-Washington plans for all-out war in the Koreas will probably not help lessen the tension between the US and Pyongyang, writes BBC. The two countries have been butting heads, with the U.S. calling on North Korea to halt its missile tests, and Pyongyang promising to continue them, according to BBC.
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