Day: May 11, 2024

North Korea has appointed a new ambassador to its mission at the United Nations office in Geneva, the U.N. website showed Saturday.

Jo Chol-su, who previously served as director-general of international organizations at North Korea’s foreign ministry, presented his credentials to the U.N. Office at Geneva on Friday, according to the website.

Jo’s appointment comes five months after his predecessor, Han Tae-song, returned to the North amid allegations of his involvement in ivory smuggling.

The new envoy has “extensive experience” working with the U.N., including as first secretary at the North Korean U.N. mission in Geneva and as a national staff member for World Food Program and United Nations Development Program delegations in Pyongyang, the website said.

He also previously worked in the North America department of the North’s foreign ministry, handling negotiations over the country’s nuclear weapons program.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

A North Korean hacking group had stolen a massive amount of personal information from a South Korean court computer network, probe results showed on Saturday.

A total of 1,014 gigabytes worth of data and documents were leaked from Seoul’s court computer network between January 2021 and February 2023 by the hacking group, presumed to be Lazarus, according to the joint probe by the police, the prosecution and the National Intelligence Service.

A huge chunk of the data leaked includes detailed personal information, such as names, resident registration numbers, financial records and others, according to the probe results.

The three agencies concluded that the hacking was conducted by North Korea given the types of malicious codes used for the hacking, settlements for leased servers with crypto assets and IP addresses.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and five other opposition parties jointly called on President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday to accept a special counsel investigation into the military’s response to a Marine’s death last year.

The six — the DP, the Rebuilding Korea Party, the New Reform Party, the Justice Party, the Progressive Party and the New Future Party (Saemirae) — held a press conference near the presidential office to demand Yoon not veto a special counsel bill passed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly last week.

“Is it asking for too much to ask for the truth on why a young Marine died while supporting flood recovery operations and whether there was external pressure during the course of the investigation?” said DP floor leader Park Chan-dae.

“The president exercising his veto authority will not hide the truth,” he added. “If he exercises his veto authority, the people will not tolerate it.”

Cpl. Chae Su-geun died during a search mission for downpour victims in July 2023.

The
DP has pushed for a special counsel investigation on allegations that Yoon’s office and the defense ministry inappropriately interfered in a military investigation into his death.

Yoon voiced reservations about a new probe during a press conference Thursday, saying if the ongoing investigation by the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials is insufficient, he “will be the first to call for a special counsel probe.”

Source: Yonhap News Agency

A North Korean hacking group had stolen a massive amount of personal information from a South Korean court computer network for about two years, probe results showed Saturday.

A total of 1,014 gigabytes (GB) worth of data and documents were leaked from Seoul’s court computer network between January 2021 and February 2023 by the hacking group, presumed to be Lazarus, according to the joint probe by the police, the prosecution and the National Intelligence Service.

A huge chunk of the data leaked includes detailed personal information, such as names, resident registration numbers, financial records and others, according to the probe results.

The three agencies concluded that the hacking was conducted by North Korea given the types of malicious codes used for the hacking, settlements for leased servers with crypto assets and IP addresses.

The joint investigation team has identified only 5,171 files worth 4.7 GB, or 0.5 percent of the total leaked files, exposing the loopholes of the judiciary security manag
ement and response system.

To prevent further damage, the team provided the leaked files to the court administration and notified the victims of the leakage.

The police investigation began in last December as the court carried out its own internal probe into the huge data leak in the first 10 months after the computer network detected and blocked malicious code.

Source: Yonhap News Agency