Pyongyang 'hacked South Korean smartphones'

South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that North Korea might have placed unwanted software on as many as 20,000 smartphones.

The malware was said to have been disguised as games and is believed to have been spread via South Korean websites between May and September this year. The revelation came in an NIS report submitted to parliament this week.

The Yonhap news agency reported the NIS as saying it had worked with website owners to remove the applications and block hacking channels.

The NIS report added that more than 75,000 hacking attempts had been made against government agencies and affiliates between 2010 and September this year, with many believed to have been conducted by North Korea.

Hackers have distributed malware and emails carrying viruses repeatedly in the South in recent years, with government intelligence bodies concluding that Pyongyang is behind them.

Earlier this year, news media websites and government offices were attacked in an apparently coordinated attack on the 63rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

The North is thought to operate an elite cyber-warfare unit with at least 3,000 staff. According to one Yonhap report earlier this year, the unit has been doubled in size to almost 6,000.

North Korea denies the allegations, accusing the South of inventing the allegations to stoke cross-border tension. The North has also accused the South of cyber attacks against its interests.

As news of the report was released, it also appeared that efforts to restart high-level talks between the two countries had failed. Pyongyang was believed to have refused further talks on October 30, voicing a protest about the release of propaganda balloons by activists in South Korea.

rc/av (AFP, dpa)