[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English,
[00:01.98]this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.13]North Korea is often seen as a poor country,
[00:08.98]cut off from the world
[00:11.52]and technologically out of date.
[00:14.88]But officials in South Korea
[00:16.83]have linked North Korea to recent attacks
[00:20.47]on computers and computer information systems,
[00:24.97]and they described the North's ability
[00:27.94]to carry out such attacks as world class.
[00:32.48]South Korea's spy agency
[00:35.07]recently made the claims at a meeting
[00:38.02]with a committee of the South Korean National assembly.
[00:42.81]The national Intelligence Service(NIS) said
[00:45.91]North Korea has trained what the NIS calls a cyber army,
[00:52.66]these computer experts can affect
[00:55.45]the electronic communications and records of individuals,
[01:00.80]businesses and even governments.
[01:04.49]The NIS described seven North Korean hacking organizations
[01:10.28]and the group of spies operating in China and Japan.
[01:15.37]It noted that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says
[01:21.85]cyber warfare is just as important as missiles and nuclear weapons.
[01:27.70]Seo Sang-ki is chairman of the assembly's Intelligence committee.
[01:32.95]He says North Korea established its hacking point in China
[01:38.43]because it just across the border
[01:40.97]has a highly developed Internet service
[01:44.28]and its activities can be protected.
[01:47.72]He says there appears to be about 1,700 North Korean hackers
[01:55.94]and 4,200 supporting agents operating in China.
[02:01.99]That number, he says, is increasing.
[02:05.40]He says they earn money by developing software in China
[02:10.09]and perform hacking activities
[02:12.84]to collect national industrial secrets.
[02:16.89]The NIS confirmed a report that North Korea
[02:21.28]opened the private documents of a South Korean IT company
[02:26.70]that was stored in China.
[02:28.11]In October, South Korea's KBS TV reported
[02:33.92]that the attack may have been an effort to steal information
[02:38.78]from Seoul's computer networks.
[02:41.54]Mr Seo would not name the company,
[02:44.90]and identified it only by using the letter "S."
[02:49.51]China usually denies the cyber attacks
[02:53.35]are launched from its territory.
[02:55.60]Kim Hung-kwang is president of the group
[02:59.56]North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity.
[03:03.67]He says China knows that North Korean hackers
[03:09.28]launch attacks from inside China.
[03:12.94]But he notes that China has never arrested
[03:17.19]or expelled any North Koreans.
[03:20.39]He says that is why it appears North Korea
[03:24.34]is carrying out the attacks under China's approval.
[03:29.79]North Korea is believed responsible for attacks
[03:33.84]earlier this year that affected tens of thousands of computers.
[03:39.05]South Korean officials say the economic cost
[03:43.00]was estimated at $800 million.
[03:47.09]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.
[03:51.59]I'm Milagros Ardin.