By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

A top military intelligence agency in Seoul on Thursday indicated the possibility that North Korea’s hacking unit was involved in the recent cyber attacks by hackers into networks of the South Korea government.

The allegation of the North’s involvement was brought up a day after the National Intelligence Service (NIS) confirmed the identities of Chinese hackers who were suspected of attacking the computers within 10 government agencies in South Korea.

``We don’t rule out the possibility of the North’s connection with the cyber attacks against us,’’ a source in the Defense Security Command (DSC) told The Korea Times. ``But we first have to wait and see until we get an investigation result as South Korea has already asked Interpol to begin probes into this case.’’

A total of 278 computers in 10 public institutes, including the National Assembly, the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses and the Agency for Defense Development, were found to be recently infected by two kinds of hacking programs _ the Peep Trojan and Backdoor Revacc _ that were attached to e-mails via China, the NIS said.

One of the Chinese hackers, according to the NIS, is enrolled in a Korean language class at a foreign language school in China that has been run by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army since 1986. It is not yet confirmed whether the hacker is a civilian or is on active duty in the army.

Choi Young-jin, vice minister of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, met Li Bin, Chinese Ambassador to Seoul, on Wednesday and asked for Beijing’s cooperation in tracking down the hackers. The ministry officials quoted Li as saying that he will report the request to Beijing in an effort to get a clear picture of the cyber attack.

It is highly possible that a number of students from North Korea are attending classes in the college-level school as it grants admission to civilians too, North Korea watchers said. The source in the DSC added that there are even South Korean military officers attending the school.

In an e-mail interview early June, John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, which maintains an online guide to the North’s military, said he would be surprised if Pyongyang did not operate a contingent of hackers.

``It is an obvious thing to do and is not that hard to do,’’ Pike said. ``The North can build atomic bombs and long-range missiles. Computer hacking is easier than (making) an atomic bomb or a missile.’’

Lt. Gen. Song Young-geun, chief of the DSC, alleged in late May that a hacking unit had been set up under orders from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and is under operation to steal a wide range of information from South Korean government agencies and research bodies. The DSC, however, was unable to provide any examples of damage caused by North Korean hackers.

im@koreatimes.co.kr