North Korea: Seoul’s hacking accusations are ‘fabrication’

North Korea is denying any connection to a recent series of cyberattacks targeting South Korean officials’ smartphones.  

{mosads}North Korea called reports that North Korean hackers had successfully infiltrated the phones of 40 security and military officials baseless. Pyongyang also accused the South of “fabrication” in the country’s state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.

“The South is claiming the North’s cyber attack and using it for its own political purpose,” said an opinion piece published Sunday, according to Reuters.

The piece accused Seoul of inventing the claim to help usher through a controversial “anti-terrorism” law.

“There is nothing to expect but the sound of eating corpses from a crow’s mouth,” the article said. “However, we cannot just overlook the South’s abrupt, provocative, and heinous accusations against its neighbor.”

In addition to the 40 successful phone hacks, South Korean intelligence officials told lawmakers last week that Pyongyang hackers had unsuccessfully tried to crack into 260 other government phones. These digital warriors also failed in attempts to infiltrate the South’s railway control system, as well as numerous financial institutions, they added.

The heated accusations of pilfered text messages, voicemails and phone logs come amid heightened tensions between the two neighbors.

Pyongyang recently threatened to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike on South Korea and the U.S. in response to joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises last week.

The threat came just months after Pyongyang claimed to have conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test. Shortly after the alleged test, South Korea blamed the North for launching a spate of cyberattacks on Southern government networks.

Security experts say the incidents fit with an emerging pattern for North Korea, in which Pyongyang ties cyber campaigns to moments of blustery rhetoric and military drills.

U.S. lawmakers recently approved a bill that slaps sanctions on North Korea for its burgeoning cyber capabilities and resurgent nuclear program.

“This is the first time we’ve ever had mandatory sanctions on cyberattacks,” Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who backed the legislation, told The Hill last month. “It’s long overdue.”

“This will be a model for what we do as other bad actors try to attack the United States through cyber means,” Gardner added, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity.