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Sony Pictures' headquarters in Los Angeles. Sony denounced the "brazen" cyber attack but downplayed reports that North Korea was behind the attack. Photo: AFP

Pyongyang pouring resources into elite cyberwarfare unit, defectors say

Sophisticated cyberwarfare unit the military elite as suspicion falls on North over Sony hack

Kim Jong-un

Despite its poverty and isolation, North Korea has poured resources into a sophisticated cyber-warfare cell called Bureau 121, defectors from the secretive state said as Pyongyang came under suspicion for a crippling hack into computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

A North Korean diplomat has denied Pyongyang was behind the attack that was launched last month but a US national security source said it was a suspect.

Defectors from the North have said Bureau 121, staffed by some of the most talented computer experts in the insular state, is part of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, an elite spy agency run by the military. They have said it is involved in state-sponsored hacking, used by the Pyongyang government to spy on or sabotage its enemies.

Military hackers were among the most talented, and rewarded, people in North Korea, handpicked and trained from as young as 17, said Jang Se-yul, who studied with them at North Korea's University of Automation, before defecting to the South six years ago.

Speaking in Seoul, he said the Bureau 121 unit comprised about 1,800 "cyber warriors", and was considered the military elite.

"For them, the strongest weapon is cyber. In North Korea, it's called the Secret War," Jang said.

One of his friends worked in an overseas team of the unit, and was ostensibly an employee of a North Korean trading firm, Jang said. Back home, the friend and his family had been given a large state-allocated apartment in Pyongyang, Jang said.

"No one knows ... his company runs business as usual. That's why what he does is scarier," Jang said. "My friend, who belongs to a rural area, could bring all of his family to Pyongyang. Incentives for North Korea's cyber experts are very strong ... they are rich people in Pyongyang."

He said the hackers in Bureau 121 were among the 100 students who graduate from the University of Automation each year after five years of study.

"They are handpicked," said Kim Heung-kwang, a former computer science professor in North Korea who defected to the South in 2004, referring to the state hackers. "It is a great honour for them. It is a white-collar job there and people have fantasies about it."

The technology news site Re/code reported on Wednesday that Sony intended to name North Korea as the source of the attack. But when asked about the Re/code report, a Sony spokeswoman said no announcement was coming. The company declined to comment on Thursday.

Sony Pictures, a unit of Japan's Sony Corporation, is the distributor of , a forthcoming Seth Rogan comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. North Korea has described the film as an "act of war".

Last year, more than 30,000 PCs at South Korean banks and broadcasting companies were hit by a similar attack that cybersecurity researchers widely believe was launched from North Korea.

Months later, the South Korean government's online presence was targeted, with the president's website defaced with a banner reading "Long live General Kim Jong-un, president of reunification!"

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Pyongyang pours resources into secret Bureau 121
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