SEOUL : South Korea's top military intelligence official said North Korea is operating an elite military unit specializing in hacking into South Korean computer networks.

Song Young-Keun, commanding general of the Defense Security Comand, said at a conference here that North Korea was building up its "cyber-terror" capability on orders from its leader, Kim Jong-Il.

"Following orders from Chairman Kim Jong-Il, North Korea has been operating a crack unit specializing in computer hacking and strengthening its cyber-terror ability," he said in a keynote speech.

The conference was organized by the Korea Information Security Agency of the Ministry of Information and Communication to discuss the protection of security related intelligence.

He said the North Korean military hackers were breaking into the computer networks of South Korean government agencies and research institutes to steal classified information.

Song's comments came a day after top military generals from North Korea and South Korea met to reduce tensions on the world's last Cold War frontier.

Yonhap news agency quoted DSC officials as saying that top graduates from Kim Il-Sung Military Academy, a military intelligence college, are handpicked and given intensive training in computer-related skills before being assigned to the hackers' unit.

Their tasks are to get into the computer networks run by South Korean government agencies and research institutes and to attack computer systems when necessary, according to Defense Security Command officers.

Song said there were eight Internet Web sites directly run by Pyongyang and 26 other sites operated by pro-Pyongyang organizations which are acting as propaganda outlets for the communist state.

"Combined efforts are necessary to cope with the mounting cyber attacks from North Korea as it is impossible for the DSC alone to cope with them," the general said.

Lee Hong-Sub, head of the Korea Information Security Agency, also said at the same conference that fighting "cyber threats without borders" requires joint efforts by the government and the private sector.

Defectors from North Korea said computer technology is top priority in North Korea, with Kim Jong-Nam, the eldest son of the country's ruler, leading the campaign to arm its military with state of the art information technology.

Some 100 hackers graduate from the military academy every year, they said.

You can view the original article here...
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/87102/1/.html

This is scary [censored] people. You just think Iraq is bad. Let a war break out with North Korea again.


Key points here.

1.) Korean war is not over. This is just a realy long cease fire. The war never ended.

2.) North Korea will most likely have China's backing in either arms or troops, maybe both

3.) Average life expectendcy on the DMZ(De-milliterized Zone) is something like 13 seconds under a full attack. Our troops are meer speed bumps.

4.) The north hates our guts and the south isn't too fond of us leaving half korean, half whatever babies there either.


If a country going to war would spark world war III I lay my money on Korea. And they will fight dirty. You will wish terrorists were our biggest threat. Yea if they are checking the souths [censored]... Ummm we are the souths ally, anyone checked to see if they have been in the pentagon?

Yeah... something tells me with them reporting hundreds of graduates from "N. Korean Haxor University", there are probably more, and I don't think they are all sitting within N.Korean borders.