S. Korean lawmaker says North Korea hacked war plans
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – A South Korean lawmaker says North Korean hackers may have stolen highly classified military documents that include USSouth Korean wartime “decapitation strike” plans against the North Korean leadership, according to South Korean media reports.
The United States, meanwhile, staged another show of force meant to deter any North Korean aggression by flying two B-1B supersonic bombers Tuesday night from an air base in the US territory of Guam to the South for drills with South Korean jets. Such flights by the powerful aircraft based in Guam incense the North, which claims they are preparation for war; Pyongyang has threatened to send missiles into the waters around Guam.
If confirmed, the reported hacking attack by the North would be a major blow for South Korea at a time when its relations with rival North Korea are at a low point. The South has taken an increasingly aggressive stance toward the North’s belligerence amid backand-forth threats of war between North Korea and US President Donald Trump. North Korea’s possession of secret war plans would require a major overhaul of how South Korea and its ally Washington would respond if there’s another war on the Korean Peninsula.
An unusually aggressive approach to the North by Trump, which has included rhetoric hinting at US strikes and threatening the destruction of North Korea’s leadership, has some South Koreans fearful that war is closer than at any time since the Korean War ended in 1953 in a shaky ceasefire, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war.
Rep. Lee Cheol-hee, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic Party who sits on the National Defense Committee, cited unidentified defense officials as saying the hackers stole the US-South Korean war plans last year, according to news reports Tuesday. Lee did not respond to attempts to confirm the stories. Defense officials refused to comment Wednesday.