N. Korea flag disrupts S. Korea church livestream in 'hacking incident'
The incident occurred early Wednesday morning, when the livestream of the service by the Onnuri Church was abruptly filled with the North Korean flag, accompanied by what appeared to be Pyongyang's propaganda music. — Photo by Micha Brändli on Unsplash
SEOUL: One of South Korea's largest megachurches said on June 20 its YouTube worship service was briefly hacked during a live broadcast to display the North Korean flag, with a government agency saying it was checking the details.
The incident occurred early Wednesday morning (June 18), when the livestream of the service by the Onnuri Church was abruptly filled with the North Korean flag, accompanied by what appeared to be Pyongyang's propaganda music.
The flag was displayed for about 20 seconds, a church official told AFP, adding that the incident had been reported to the police.
"During the early morning worship service on June 18, an unexpected video was broadcast due to a hacking incident," the church said in a separate statement.
"We are currently conducting an urgent investigation into the cause of the incident and will take appropriate measures as soon as the situation is clarified."
South Korea's state-run Korea Internet & Security Agency told AFP it was "looking into the case".
Another Protestant church in Seoul, the Naesoo-Dong Church, told AFP it also experienced a similar hacking incident shortly before its YouTube worship service early Wednesday morning.
An "inappropriate" video was displayed for about 50 seconds due to an "external hacking" attack, Pastor Oh Shin-young told AFP, adding that the footage had no apparent connection to North Korea.
South Korea, widely recognised as among the most wired countries in the world, has long been a target of cyber hacking by North Korea, which has been blamed for several major attacks in the past.
Police announced last year that North Korean hackers were behind the theft of sensitive data from a South Korean court computer network – including individuals' financial records – over a two-year period.
The stolen data amounted to more than one gigabyte.
Also last year, Seoul's spy agency said North Korean spies were using LinkedIn to pose as recruiters and entice South Koreans working at defence companies so the spies could access information on the firms' technology. – AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
37 minutes ago
- The Star
Myanmar junta battles guerillas for control of jade hub
Jade is considered auspicious in Chinese culture and high-quality stones can fetch astronomical sums. - Reuters YANGON: Myanmar's junta and anti-coup guerillas battled over the country's jade mining hub Friday (June 20), a combatant and a local said, displacing desperate civilians as they vied for supplies of the precious stone. Myanmar has been consumed by a many-sided civil war since a 2021 coup toppled the democratic government, with the myriad of fighting factions plundering the nation's vast natural resources to fill their coffers. Jade is considered auspicious in Chinese culture and high-quality stones can fetch astronomical sums. Fighting has raged during a Myanmar military offensive around villages and mining sites in Hpakant township of northern Kachin state, according to Naw Bu, spokesman of the Kachin Independence Army battling the junta in the area. "They came to the jade mining areas of some companies and they burned down trucks and destroyed other things," he added. "They intended to stop our income from jade mining." AFP was not able to verify the claim and a spokesman for Myanmar's junta could not be reached for comment. Battles in the area began around three weeks ago but continued in the early hours of Friday, Naw Bu said. A local resident who asked to remain anonymous said around 15 civilians had been killed since May 28 and "some residents didn't dare to stay in the combat zone and have been displaced". As Myanmar's civil war enters its fifth year, more than 3.5 million people in the country of around 50 million are currently displaced, according to United Nations figures. Kachin state hosts the largest jade deposits in the world according to geologists. Myanmar also has a huge and loosely-regulated mining sector for gold, rubies and rare earth minerals which has flourished in the war. China is also a key market for rare earth minerals, where they are used in electric vehicles the country is producing at prodigious rates. - AFP
The Star
37 minutes ago
- The Star
New S. Korean President's call for public to suggest Cabinet members ‘more than a populist move'
SEOUL: K-pop singer IU for Cultural Minister? How about Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho of the Parasite movie fame or even popular show host Yoo Jae-suk? A crowdsourcing exercise by the administration of the new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, seeking public inputs towards the forming of its new Cabinet, has yielded these amusing results, along with more considered suggestions. Lee, who took office on June 4, had mooted the crowdsourcing idea as a 'meaningful first step towards the people becoming the main actors in running the state'. The 62-year-old former human rights lawyer was elected on June 3 in a snap election after the ouster of former president Yoon Suk-yeol over the botched martial law attempt of Dec 3, 2024. Given the lack of a transition period unlike usual elections, Lee has been working with the old Cabinet of his predecessor Yoon, while taking steps to form his own Cabinet. While the unusual crowdsourcing exercise is widely seen as a populist move, observers say that it is a shrewd decision by Lee in more ways than one. 'Through this public nomination system, Lee is able to not only cater to his supporters by giving them a voice, but also buy time to vet nominations thoroughly before formalising his Cabinet,' said Kyonggi University political science and law lecturer Hahm Sung-deuk. In his social media post on June 10 promoting the initiative, President Lee said that the process marks the beginning of a 'national sovereign government' and pledged transparency and fairness in ensuring that only 'truly qualified people' are selected. The public nominations were open from June 10 to 16, allowing South Koreans to submit their choice of Cabinet ministers, vice-ministers or heads of public institutions along with supporting reasons, via a dedicated website, a dedicated e-mail account and even through direct messages to Lee's social media accounts. Self-nominations were accepted. By the closing date of the public nomination exercise, some 74,000 suggestions had been received, with the posts of health minister, justice minister and prosecutor-general receiving the most number of nominations. South Korean media reported that while there were throwaway nominations like suggestions that ex-president Yoon, a former prosecutor-general, return to the top prosecutor job, there were more considered nominations too. These included one for former director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Jeong Eun-kyeong, who had led the nation through the Covid-19 pandemic, to be considered for the health minister position. The tight-knit medical community, in particular, had called for doctors to actively nominate medical field experts with good understanding of medical issues for the health minister position, in order to resolve the fall-out from the mass doctors' walk-out in February 2024 when the previous Yoon administration tried to unilaterally increase medical school admissions. This would be an example of political figures or influential people in various sectors of South Korean society mobilising their support bases to influence the outcome, said Sogang University's Associate Professor Hannah Kim. She also pointed out that there would inevitably be concerns that the selection process 'prioritises popularity over competence' although the public nomination process may appeal to voters 'frustrated by elite-driven decision-making and the revolving-door of establishment politics'. Such a nomination process many also deepen existing divisions, given the country's political polarisation driven in part by extreme fandom in both the opposing conservative and liberal camps, said Prof Kim. 'Moreover, President Lee is likely to face backlash regardless of which decision he makes – whether he goes with popular suggestions or ignores them and appoints allies or controversial figures. And with the latter, this could increase cynicism about democratic participation itself,' she added. At a press briefing on June 16, a presidential spokesperson gave the assurance that the public nomination system is 'not a popularity contest', so the recommendations would only be for reference. The presidential office has said that the received nominations will be put through rigorous vetting first, with final nominations to be released later at an unspecified date. Prof Hahm says such a time-buying tactic is a smart political move by Lee, who has already faced roadblocks in the formation of his government in his first week of office. 'It allows him to further scrutinise his future nominations, to make sure there are no more controversies to trip them up,' he said. A senior presidential aide was forced to resign four days after his appointment, after allegations surfaced of his undisclosed real estate holdings and a hefty 1.5 billion won (S$1.4 million) loan he allegedly took out using a friend's name. Lee's pick for the prime ministerial position, Kim Min-seok, has also come under intense scrutiny over his past conviction for accepting illegal political funds and his significant increase in assets over the last five years. Kim, a seasoned lawmaker from Lee's ruling Democractic Party (DP) who had warned about Yoon's possible martial law attempt as early as August 2024 and was a key strategist in Lee's presidential campaign, has refuted the allegations and called them politically motivated attacks by the erstwhile ruling People Power Party (PPP). The PPP, now the main opposition party, had staged a rally in Seoul on June 20 calling for the withdrawal of Kim's nomination. Referring to Lee's legal woes that have been temporarily put on hold because of his presidency, a PPP spokesperson said: 'If both the president and the prime minister have moral issues and a history of criminal offences, we cannot expect proper appointments of public officials below them!' Kim, who met the foreign press corps in Seoul on June 17, said that he understands the reasons behind the attacks and is optimistic that he will win the opposition over with his patience. 'However, even if I understand their opposition, that doesn't mean that the legal allegations that are untrue, are true. I would definitely address all of the issues and do my best to clear the nomination hearing,' said Kim, whose parliamentary confirmation hearings will take place on June 24-25. Lee himself has expressed confidence that Kim would be able to 'explain himself sufficiently'. Pointing out Kim's contributions during the martial law crisis and the ruling Democratic Party's majority in the Parliament, Prof Hahm said it was unlikely that Kim's nomination would fail. He said: 'Do not forget that this is still the 'honeymoon' period for the president. His popularity is running high and people would not want anything to obstruct his presidency at this moment.' - The Straits Times/ANN
Sinar Daily
an hour ago
- Sinar Daily
New Argentinian court to hold trial over Diego Maradona's death
Seven medical professionals are on trial for the possible involuntary manslaughter of the legendary footballer in 2020. 20 Jun 2025 04:52pm Argentina's national football fans with a flag with the picture of late Argentine football legend Diego Maradona and Forward Lionel Messi attend a training session with the U20 national team at the Tomas Adolfo Duco Stadium in Buenos Aires, on March 22, 2025. - (Photo by ALEJANDRO PAGNI/AFP) BUENOS AIRES - A new trial into the death of Argentinian football hero Diego Maradona is to be held outside Buenos Aires, German Press Agency (dpa) reported. Media reports on Thursday said the seventh criminal court in San Isidro, near the Argentinian capital, was chosen by lot to carry out the trial following a scandal involving a previous judge. Seven medical professionals are on trial for the possible involuntary manslaughter of the legendary footballer in 2020. Judges Roberto Gaig, Alejandro Lago and Alberto Ortolani are to conduct the new trial. The first trial was declared null and void in late May after around two and a half months because the judge involved, Julieta Makintach, had simultaneously worked on an unauthorised documentary about the trial. She has since been suspended from office and is awaiting separate impeachment proceedings. It remains to be seen when the new main proceedings will begin. Although a new trial date could theoretically be set soon, judicial circles are increasingly expecting a postponement to 2026. Reasons given include a busy schedule and expected delaying tactics by the defence lawyers. Maradona died of heart failure in November 2020 at the age of 60, a few weeks after an operation for a blood clot in his brain. The public prosecutor's office accuses the medical staff of gross negligence in their care. - BERNAMA
