Posts tagged South Korea
South Korea hit by coordinated cyber attack
Mar 20th
An apparently sophisticated and coordinated cyber attack has caused widespread disruption to computer networks and three of South Koreas largest broadcasters and two of the country’s banks.
The attack first showed itself at 2pm on Wednesday when computers at KBS, MBC and YTN shutdown. Upon restarting, the computers displayed error messages saying they were unable to boot. Apparently the boot record or entire operating system has been removed from the computers.
KBS broadcast images of computers in its offices showing an error screen and one KBS employee posted a picture of his laptop screen on Twitter (right.)
ATMs and online banking service at Shinhan More >
North again ranked second worst for press freedom
Jan 31st
File this one under business as usual. North Korea was again ranked second-to-last in Reporters Without Borders’ annual press freedom index while South Korea continued to drop down the ranking.
The Paris-based press censorship watchdog ranked North Korea as 178th in its survey, just one rank above Eritrea.
“Kim Jong-un’s arrival at the head of the Hermit Kingdom has not in any way changed the regime’s absolute control of news and information,” the organization said in a statement.
North Korea and Eritrea have occupied the bottom two positions in the survey since 2007. Prior to that year, North Korea was ranked bottom from More >
Maybe North Korea didn’t hack us after all, says South
Jan 18th
Well, this is a little embarrassing. The presidential transition team that Thursday blamed North Korean hackers for an attack on its press room now says there was no hacking. It all appears to have been a misunderstanding.
Reporting on the reversal, Yonhap quoted an official on the team as saying the allegations stemmed from a disconnect in communications within the team.
“Security authorities had asked the administrative office of the transition committee to advise reporters to use antivirus programs and change passwords often as the press room is vulnerable to outside hacking attempts,” spokesman Yoon Chang-jung said.
“There was some misunderstanding in the course of delivering this,” More >
Suspected DPRK cyber attacks back in the news
Jan 17th
Cyber attacks on South Korean networks suspected to have originated in North Korea are back in the news.
On Thursday, Yonhap News reported that a computer server handling the Internet connection for the press rooms at South Korea’s presidential transition team had been hacked.
The hack, which was not detailed, was detected during a security check by “intelligence authorities,” said Yonhap. Other computers in the transition office had not been hacked, the report said quoting an unnamed official.
The news comes a day after the National Police Agency blamed North Korea for a 2012 attack on the Joong Ang Ilbo newspaper. The NPA said it came to its More >
South Korea to continue analog TV near border
Dec 27th
Just days away from completing a nationwide switch from analog to digital television, South Korea has announced plans to continue analog TV broadcasting in border areas so that North Koreans don’t lose access to the signals.
Overseas radio and TV broadcasts are about the only free media available to North Koreans, although reception isn’t easy. Officially banned from receiving such transmissions, North Koreans typically have to modify reception equipment and listen or watch in secret.
It’s difficult to know the exact number of people who tune into South Korean broadcasts. The signals don’t reach deep into North Korea, but they are likely More >
Retweeting DPRK lands activist with suspended sentance
Nov 24th
Park Jung-geun, a Seoul-based photographer and free-speech activist, has received a 10-month suspended prison sentence for retweeting North Korean tweets.
The case, one of several that has drawn international attention to South Korean Internet censorship, has been going on for the better part of a year and was being closely watched for its interpretation of how South Korea’s National Security Act extends to Twitter.
The law targets those who “praise, encourage, disseminate or cooperate” with anti-social groups, in this case the North Korean government. Access to many North Korean websites and other Internet resources are blocked to South Korean Internet connections under the law.
Blocking Twitter More >
Report: DPRK jams South Korean satellite comms
Nov 17th
North Korea earlier this year jammed military communications running through a South Korea satellite, according to a report in the Joong Ang Ilbo.
The newspaper, which quoted an anonymous South Korean military official, said a powerful signal sent from a location near Pyongyang caused interference to military communications on the Koreasat 5 satellite in March this year.
However, as usual with such leaks from the Korean government to the local media, what actually happened remains far from clear.
Koreasat 5 was launched in 2006 and carries a mixed commercial and military payload.
On the commercial side are 24 ku-band transponders operated by Korea Telecom that carry Korean More >
North Koreans to soon loose access to South Korean TV
Nov 6th
South Korea’s impending closure of analog television broadcasts will cut off one of the few uncensored sources of information available to North Korean citizens.
South Korea, like many countries, is coming towards the end of a transition from analog to digital broadcasting and ending analog transmissions region by region.
The process began in August but didn’t affect North Korean viewers until October 25, when analog TV was switched off in Gangwon province. The second stage that will affect North Korea is the final step in the process, when analog TV in the Seoul metropolitan area and Gyonggi province will end on December More >
South Korean Defense Ministry steps up DPRK broadcasts
Aug 15th
A radio station believed to be operated by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense has strengthened its radio broadcasts to North Korea, according to reports from radio monitors in Japan.
MND Radio added extra shortwave frequencies from August 9 in an apparent attempt to get around the DPRK’s heavy jamming of its signal.
The current schedule for the station’s four programs a day now looks like this (all times in GMT)
MND Radio Schedule
0400-0440 on 5900, 6760kHz – Program 1 0500-0535 on 5150, 6435kHz – Program 2 0600-0650 on 5410, 6700kHz – Program 3 0700-0735 on 5290, 6270kHz – Program 4 1000-1035 on 5150, 6435kHz – Program 2 More >
DPRK targets South media, but coordinates are wrong
Jun 5th
North Korea issued one of its most direct threats yet on South Korean media outlets on Monday.
[This post has been updated, see below]
The threats, to stage “a merciless sacred war” and to blow up “dens of monstrous crimes” came after South Korean media coverage of the Korean Children’s Union anniversary events that are currently taking place in Pyongyang.
From May 29 the group set in motion Chosun Ilbo, Choongang Ilbo, “A channel” of Dong-A Ilbo, KBS, CBS, MBC, SBS and other media to launch a campaign defaming the above-said celebrations. It went the lengths of resorting to a new campaign of hurting More >
