Some automated teller machine services of Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s largest lender, were paralyzed for around three hours on Saturday morning, bank officials said, rekindling concerns over banking security in the country.

Customers had difficulties depositing and withdrawing money through ATMs across the nation between 7:30 a.m. and 10:20 a.m., according to the officials.

Kookmin Bank said its officials found the problem in the bank’s computer network system and solved the problem, normalizing ATM transactions.

But Kookmim Bank said the exact cause of the incident was not yet confirmed.

“We will examine the network over the weekend and figure out the cause,” said an official from the bank. “But it’s certain that this is not caused by hacking or North Korea’s cyber attacks that troubled Nonghyup’s computer network.”

In April, Nonghyup’s electronic system crashed, and almost all online operations, including ATM transactions and credit card services, were paralyzed for nearly a month. South Korea’s prosecution later said that North Korea was behind the cyber attack. 

(Yonhap News)