Hackers in North Korea have reportedly pilfered tonnes of confidential military papers from South Korea. The documents are said to include the South's wartime operational plot with US ally against North Korea.
A news report on Tuesday, October 10 from Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said Rhee Cheol-Hee, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic party, had revealed the news. The said hackers penetrated South Korea's military network in September 2016, giving them access to around 235 gigabytes of classified data.
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Among the leaked documents is named Operational Plans 5015 detailing "decapitation" attacks on North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un, among other procedures, once war breaks out. Rhee refused to return media requests for comment, but his staff confirmed the statement.
Pentagon spokesperson Colonel Rob Manning says he heard about the report but declined to confirm or deny the said plan.
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"I can assure you that we are confident in the security of our operations plans and our ability to deal with any threat from North Korea," Manning told the press. "I am not going to address whether or not that (hack) has occurred. What I am going to tell you is that the (South Korea)-US alliance, that bilateral entity, is there to deal with those types of situation and safeguard against them."
According to South Korea's defence ministry, Rhee said that 80 percent of the leaked documents had yet to be identified.
