SEOUL: Cyberattacks by pro-Russian hacking groups against South Korea surge in number of followers North Korea’s troop dispatcher for Russia’s war in UkraineSeoul’s presidential office said on Friday (Nov. 8).

South Korea’s presidential office said it called an emergency meeting because of recent attacks targeting some government and private websites.

No major damage was reported other than temporary outages, it said, adding that such attacks had increased since North Korea deployed troops to Russia to aid its war effort in Ukraine.

“Cyber ​​attacks by pro-Russian hacktivist groups against our country have occurred sporadically in the past,” the office said in a statement.

“But they have become more common following North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia and its participation in the war in Ukraine.”

The presidential office did not reveal the names of the hacking groups, but said the South Korean government would increase its capabilities to respond to such attacks.

Seoul’s announcement comes about a month after Washington announced the seizure of 41 Internet domains allegedly used by Russian intelligence agents trying to gain access to Pentagon computers and email accounts.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency also warned in September against a cyber group linked to Russian military intelligence that it said had launched attacks in Ukraine and NATO member states.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 11,000 North Korean troops were in Russia’s western Kursk region and had already suffered “losses”.

South Korea, a major arms exporter, has a longstanding policy of not supplying weapons to countries in conflict.

But President Yoon Suk Yeol said this week that Seoul is now not ruling out supplying weapons directly to Ukraine, given Pyongyang’s military support for Moscow.