Seoul: South Korea has found no records of unauthorized access to the foreign ministry's email system, a ministry official said Thursday, following the U.S. announcement of mass indictments against Chinese hackers in connection with a global cybercrime campaign.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday that it has charged 12 Chinese nationals for hacking U.S. agencies, media outlets, and other organizations. Among the targeted entities was South Korea's foreign ministry.
"We have found no records of unauthorized access to the foreign ministry's email system to date," ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said in a press briefing.
The indictments include charges against employees of I-Soon, a private hacking company, accused of hacking email accounts of U.S. religious groups, Chinese dissidents, U.S. government agencies, and foreign ministries of several Asian countries.
The indictment charges that a former employee of I-Soon attempted to sell unauthorized access to multiple inboxes of South Korea's foreign ministry to China's Ministry of State Security.