Kim Jong Un's Elite Hacker Unit Bureau 121 Can Strike To Kill, Says Defector

Kim Jong Un is training an elite group of cyber warriors who can hack into computer systems, cripple life and even kill in neighbouring countries, a defector has claimed. Its elite hacking unit, Bureau 121, is focused on developing programs that can penetrate security installations across the world. The recent Sony Pictures hack is said to be the handiwork of this elite force.

The North Korean Supreme Leader is apparently focused on developing an elite wing of hackers who can have impacts like military attacks and thus destroy lives. In an interview with the BBC, North Korean defector, Professor Kim Heung-Kwang, said that bureau 121 was a professional hacking unit focused on creating panic and destruction. The Kim Jong Un regime spends almost 20 percent of the military spending on this unit. The agency is said to have around 6,000 handpicked computer professionals.

North Korea is building its own malaware on the line of Stuxnet, a hack attack that struck the Iranian nuclear centrifuges. This attack has been attributed to United States and Israel. Earlier this year, the South Korean government had blamed the North for breaching the security of its hydro and nuclear power plants.

Prof Kim told BBC, "The reason North Korea has been harassing other countries is to demonstrate that North Korea has cyber war capacity.” He added that if the attack on the nuclear power plant had been successful, lives would have been compromised. There have been other attacks which have been attributed to North Korea and these include an 2013 attack on three South Korean broadcasters and a banks.

According to Prof Kim, the focus of these attacks is to spread panic with “TV and ATM's completely shut down." The analysis of the attack revealed a malicious code dubbed as Dark Seoul may have used an insider help from South Korea. North Korean regime has been proactive in picking up the bright students and giving them training as cyber warriors. These students lived privileged lives along with their families and were indoctrinated in "accomplishing Kim Jong Un's orders as a cyber warrior."

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