A Unification Ministry official has described the hacking of some 50 civil servants' e-mails presumably by a North Korean organization as “grave provocations” against South Korea’s national security.
 
The official on Monday was commenting on the results of an investigation by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office that found that 56 sets of email log-in ID's and passwords of government officials who handle foreign and defense affairs were leaked during hacking attempts between January and June of this year.
 
An official at the Unification Ministry said that one of its staff lost account information of a private e-mail but no official documents were lost due to the hacking.

A Foreign Ministry official said that some of its employees that use private e-mail accounts outside the office are assessed to have been targets of the hacking attempts. The official said that within the office, private e-mails are not used.
 
Defense Ministry Spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told reporters that the results of the prosecution’s investigation need to be closely watched, citing that the probe is still under way. He said the ministry is trying to determine if any Defense Ministry official was affected by the hacking.

A military official said two to three officers in active service were among the targets of the attempted hacking, adding that no classified information was leaked.