I just finished reading an article in this month’s Foreign Policy magazine about North Korean hackers. The article is written by well known North Korea watcher Rebecca MacKinnon formerly of CNN which some of you probably know from her website North Korea Zone. The Foreign Policy website doesn’t have this article posted yet on their website so I will just type it here for you to read.
Hermit Hackers
South Korea’s National Assembly Defense Committee recently reported that North Korea has trained an army of 500-600 skilled computer hackers. According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, North Korea’s hackers attend a special five year college called the Automated Warfare Institute. Tucked away in the mountains, the South Koreans say, this military academy produces 100 cyber warriors per year, with degrees in subjects such as automated reconnaissance.
News that North Korea is developing cyberwarfare capbabilities on par with those in advanced nations came as a surprise. Short on cutting-edge computer technology (not to mention reliable electrical grids), the Hermit Kingdom still depends on other nations for it’s internet bandwidth. As of October 2004, there were reportedly 43 official North Korean or pro-North Korean web sites on the Net. Yet none of these sites is actually housed on a North Korean computer server. Seventeen, including North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA exist on Japanese servers. Servers in the United States, China, Singapore, and Germany host North Korea’s remaining sites. By: Rebecca MacKinnon
The first thing that jumped to mind when reading this is not the obsurdity of North Korea training computer hackers in a country with no ISP or little electricity but that they are wasting money on training people when they could easily hire some young South Korean sympathizers to come and hack for them. The next time these sympathizers are protesting at the front gate of of our camp I can let them know the Norks are hiring. I they still don’t want to go to North Korea, than they can just kidnap them. The Korean government won’t care. I also wonder if Japan places sanctions on North Korea if they will shut down their internet service as well? I would hate to lose such a great hard news service as the KCNA. What I am I going to do about not being able to read about the latest obscure third world dictator praising Kim Jong Il?
