Seoul Says Hackers Are Responsible for Sending Official Emails Claiming Rift in US-ROK Alliance

Even if the person’s email was hacked why was state agencies sending classified documents over an unclassified network to begin with?  This is worse than the alleged hacking:

Cheong Wa Dae is looking into possible hacking cases, in which emails intended to create a rift in alliance between South Korea and the United States have been sent out using the accounts of at least two senior officials.

Citing recipients of these emails, the presidential office said this is to either steal classified information on North Korea policy or drive a wedge into the South Korea-U.S. alliance by using fake documents.

“We take each case very seriously and asked the National Police Agency to look into them thoroughly,” a presidential aide said asking not to be named.

The latest cases increased concerns over fake news at an alarming rate. This was because vernacular newspaper The Asia Business Daily, after obtaining a fake document on the U.S. mistrust of South Korea, published a related story on Nov. 27.

“It is way beyond a misreport and what we’re facing is the most malicious case in journalism history,” said Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom. “The way false information has been produced and disseminated is very elaborate.”

He added Cheong Wa Dae will “hunt down those who are responsible,” claiming the information itself was aimed at creating a rift between the two allies and therefore is anti-governmental.

In the first case, someone who pretended to be Presidential Secretary for State Affairs Yun Kun-young sent mails at the beginning of this year to multiple ministry officials.

The suspect then demanded recipients to hand over digital documents related to North Korea policy.

It remains uncertain how many shared classified information with the suspect.

One of the recipients raised a question over why such sensitive content was sent through Yun’s private email address, and not the one created by Cheong Wa Dae. He called Yun to confirm accordingly.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but they don’t know who conducted the alleged hacking.  Considering that the alleged hacking was done with the purpose of creating a rift in the US-ROK alliance, China or North Korea seem like likely suspects.