사법당국이 해킹으로 유출된 북한 선전사이트 ‘우리민족끼리’의 가입자 명단에 포함된 국내 회원들에 대한 수사를 착수했다.
검찰과 경찰, 국정원은 4일 국제 해커조직 어나너머스(Anonymous)가 공개한 9,001명의 회원 정보 중 국내 업체에서 제공하는 이메일 계정을 소지한 이용자에 대해 가입 경로와 이적 활동 여부 등을 통해 국가보안법 위반 혐의를 조사하고 있다.
전체 회원 중 약 2천명이 다음•네이버 등 국내 포털, 삼성•LG 등 대기업이나 언론사가 제공한 이메일 주소로 가입한 것으로 드러났다.
경찰청 관계자는 “일단 공개된 계정들에서 국가보안법 위반 혐의점이 보이는지 살펴보고 나서 혐의가 드러나는 계정이 발견되면 공식 수사에 착수할 것”이라고 밝혔다.
검찰은 북한 인터넷사이트 가입만으로는 국가보안법 적용이 어려울 것으로 보고 회원들의 활동 내역을 추적해 이적활동 유무를 파악할 계획이다.
검찰 관계자는 “어떤 글을 게시하거나 우리민족끼리의 이적성 문건을 내려받아 배포한다든지 하는 행위가 나와야 한다”고 말했다.
‘우리민족끼리’는 북한 대남 기구인 조국평화통일위원회 산하 선전용 사이트로 정부는 2004년부터 이를 유해 사이트로 분류, 국내 접속을 차단하고 있다.
이 외에도 반제민족민주전선, 우리민족강당, 고려항공 등 최소 5개 북한 사이트가 추가로 해킹 피해를 본 것으로 알려졌다.
북한의 플리커 페이지에는 4일 오후 김정은 북한 국방위원회 제1위원장의 얼굴에 저팔계의 모습을 합성한 사진에 ’현상수배‘(wanted)라는 문구와 100만달러의 현상금이 적혀있었다.
‘우리민족끼리’ 트위터 계정(@uriminzok)에는 ‘해킹됐음’(hacked), 또는 ‘탱고다운’(Tango Down: 해커들이 특정사이트를 마비시켰을 때 쓰는 용어)이라는 문구가 포함된 5건의 트윗이 발견됐다. (코리아헤럴드 / 신현희 기자)
<관련 영문 기사>
Hacked websites trigger probe into pro-N.K. activities
By Shin Hyon-hee
Law enforcement agencies are launching a massive anti-communist investigation after the list of some 2,000 South Korean members of a North Korean propaganda website was disclosed Thursday by international hackers.
The National Intelligence Service, prosecution and police jointly began a preliminary probe Friday over whether the subscribers were engaged in pro-Pyongyang activities in violation of the National Security Act.
Anonymous, an international hacker activist group, revealed 9,001 user records late Thursday which it claimed to have extracted from Uriminzokkiri.com, Pyongyang’s official website.
Some 2,000 of them contained email accounts provided by South Korean portals such as Naver and Daum, companies including Samsung and LG, or media organizations.
A membership in a North Korean site itself does not constitute a breach of the anti-communist law, officials said, adding that they will search for activities such as posting pro-North Korean comments and downloading and distributing related documents.
“We’ll undertake an official investigation if we detect suspicious accounts while examining the released records from the National Security Act’s perspective,” a police official was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.
Uriminzokkiri.com is a major propaganda channel run by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea. The Seoul government designated it as a “harmful” site and blocked public access in 2004.
It was one of at least six North Korean state-run online sites that appeared to have been compromised. Its Twitter and Flickr pages stopped posting photos of leader Kim Jong-un and senior officials and other typical content glorifying the regime.
Instead, the Flickr account showed an animated “Wanted” posture featuring leader Kim Jong-un with a pig nose and ears and a Mickey Mouse tattoo on his chest. The attached text read “Wanted: Kim Jong-un, A.K.A. Nuke Nuke Mickey Lover,” offering a $1 million reward for his capture.
Another posting carried a statement reading “We are Anonymous” in white letters in a black background.
“Threatening world peace with ICBMs and nuclear weapons; Wasting money while his people starve to death; Concentration Camps and the worst human rights violation in the world,” it read.
On Twitter, the Uriminzok account had a photo of a couple dancing the Tango as its profile picture and tweets saying “Tango Down” and “Hacked.”
The incident comes at the height of tension on the peninsula. Pyongyang has threatened an “all-out nuclear war” against South Korea and the U.S. since the U.N. imposed a fresh round of crippling sanctions to punish its February nuclear test and the allies kicked off their annual joint military drills last month.
It also followed a massive crash of computer networks at major broadcasters and banks in Seoul late March.
Though authorities have yet to determine the attackers, officials and experts pinpointed North Korea as the likely suspect in light of past cases and patterns and its recent threats.
Pyongyang, for its part, accused Seoul and Washington of “persistent and intensive” cyber attacks that led a number of its official websites to break down for about two days last month. (
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
