Man accused of hacking website of pro-Pyongyang group in Tokyo
December 16, 2020 (Mainichi Japan)
A Metropolitan Police Department sign is seen in this file photo. (Mainichi/Kenji Yoneda)
TOKYO -- Police sent papers to prosecutors on Dec. 15 accusing a South Korean national in his 20s, who lives overseas, of hacking the website of an organization of Korean residents in Japan in 2017, and planting a virus that is capable of stealing site viewers' information.
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)'s Public Security Bureau sent criminal papers on the man to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on suspicion of attempting to provide data containing a virus. The man is said to have been a university student in South Korea majoring in cybersecurity at the time of the alleged crime. The Public Security Bureau believes that the man received instructions from an acquaintance, and tried to gather information on government agencies, private firms, and other bodies showing an interest in North Korea. The authorities are investigating the background related to the case.