South Korea suspects North of attempted hacking

SEOUL, S KOREA: North Korea apparently tried to hack into the South Korean military's computer network by sending a virus-tainted email to a senior officer, an official with the South's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

The email, sent to a colonel, was spotted before it could do any harm and seems to be part of a larger North Korean attempt to use its fledgling tech sector to infiltrate sensitive communications in its tech-savvy neighbour.

"North Korea has attempted to hack the military system for quite a long time," said Seo Young-seok, a major in the defence ministry's public relations office.

"North Korea is known to be developing people capable of hacking," Seo said. "But, well, that is what every other country is doing."

The email, which was routed through a server in China, was sent to a private account of the South Korean colonel on a system that had no access to classified data, ministry officials said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has called for his country to improve its information technology sector.

But the country has trouble producing enough electricity to keep the capital Pyongyang lit at night and ranks among the poorest in the world in terms of per-capita gross domestic product.

The two Koreas, whose 1950-1953 war ended with a ceasefire, station more than 1 million troops near their heavily armed border.

Tension between the two increased last week when South Korea said it had charged a North Korean woman with spying. Prosecutors suspect her of posing as a defector and obtaining classified military information in exchange for sexual favours.