Computer hackers from North Korea are believed to have stolen a large number of classified military documents from South Korea, including plans to “decapitate” the North’s leadership.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday authorities believe hackers broke into a South Korean military data center in September 2016 and made off with the secret documents.
Among the stolen files is believed to be Operational Plan 5015, which Yonhap calls “the latest Seoul-Washington plan to handle an all-out war with Pyongyang.” Also believed to have been stolen is Operational Plan 3100, which includes South Korea’s plan to respond to local provocations from the North.
South Korean lawmaker Lee Cheol-hee said 235 gigabytes of military data was stolen from the database and only 20 percent of the stolen documents had yet been identified.
“Also among them were contingency plans for the South’s special forces, reports to allies’ top commanders, and information on key military facilities and power plants,” he told Yonhap.
News of the stolen military documents comes a day after the United Nations banned four ships that were transporting prohibited goods to and from North Korea from entering any port in the world.
The head of a U.N. committee overseeing the enactment of sanctions against the isolated regime, Hugh Griffiths, announced the port ban Monday during a briefing in New York. He said the port ban took effect last Thursday.
A maritime database that monitors naval vessels identified the banned vessels as the Petrel 8, which is registered in Comoros; the Hao Fan 6, which sails under the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis; and North Korea’s Tong San 2. The fourth ship, the Jie Shun, was not registered with any country.
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution in August that prohibits North Korea from exporting coal, iron, lead and seafood products, in response to Pyongyang’s successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. A new round of sanctions was approved in September, after the North conducted its sixth nuclear test. | voanews
