N Korea hackers in possession of Washington-Seoul war plan: MP

A lawmaker in Seoul says North Korean hackers have managed to steal a series of top-secret military documents, including a joint US-South Korean plan for war with Pyongyang.

South Korean Member of Parliament and member of the ruling Democratic party Lee Cheol-hee told local media that the hackers broke into a military data center in September 2016 and stole the most up-to-date blueprint for a military conflict with North Korea, called Operational Plan 5015, Financial Times reported.

Citing the South Korean Defense Ministry, Lee revealed that 235 gigabytes of data were lost in the cyber breach.

A plan for a “decapitation strike,” targeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was also among the files, according to the report.

The files also included contingency plans for Seoul’s Special Forces as well as information on key military facilities and power plants, the lawmaker said.

The South Korean Defense Ministry has declined to comment on the reports.

The ministry said in May that the North had penetrated Seoul’s military online network, although it did not reveal what was stolen at the time, state-run Yonhap news agency reported.

The United States and its ally South Korea have been at loggerheads with the North over Pyongyang’s weapons and nuclear programs.

North Korea, however, strongly defends its military deterrent against hostility by the US and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.

US President Donald Trump’s belligerent rhetoric against Pyongyang has given rise to the tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The two sides have traded a barrage of military threats in recent months, prompting speculations of a looming war in the region.

On Saturday, Trump US rejected diplomatic means for dealing with North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapon tests, suggesting that a military response is the only option against Pyongyang.

Hours after Trump’s comments, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un spoke in defense of his country’s nuclear program as a “powerful deterrent” against the “protracted nuclear threats of the US imperialists.”