N. Korean Cyberattacks

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in says that postponing joint military drills with the U.S. would only be on the table if North Korea refrains from making any provocations like nuclear or missile tests. But cyberspace is another question. North Korea is accused of hacking into the South Korean defense data center and several cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

[Pkg]

In September last year, a large volume of confidential information of South Korea's military was leaked, including Operations Plan 5015 and plans relating to a decapitation operation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. A suspected North Korean hacker was believed to have infiltrated into the South's defense data center and stolen 295 counts of military secrets. The hack into the defense network was a shock as it was believed to be safe and completely blocked from external Internet access. Amid toughening global sanctions on North Korea, the regime then turned to virtual currencies as its target of attack. In April and September this year, two cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea were hacked into and more than 7 billion won in virtual money disappeared. Also in June, personal information of some 36-thousand users was stolen from South Korea's largest virtual currency exchange. The National Intelligence Service is known to have secured evidence proving that North Korea was behind the attacks. But experts warn that Pyongyang's cyber attacks won't end here. The regime is aiming to paralyze South Korea's key infrastructure and even cause casualties.

[Soundbite] Choi Sang-myeong(Hauri CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team)) : "Through cyber attacks, the North can trigger rail or aviation accidents and possibly cause loss of lives. Attacks along these lines appear to be gradually growing in recent days."

Experts predict the North will launch a major cyber attack ahead of important events scheduled in South Korea next year including the joint military exercise with the US, the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and provincial elections.