By Li Hongmei
Computer networks running three major South Korean banks and the country's two largest broadcasters were paralyzed Wednesday in attacks that some experts suspected originated in the neighboring Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which has played up the threat to cripple Seoul in recent days.
The computers of South Korea's cable channel YTN were frozen during the attacks on Wednesday.
The attacks, which left many South Koreans unable to withdraw money from A.T.M.'s and news broadcasting crews staring at blank computer screens, came as Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency quoted the country's top leader, Kim Jong Un, as threatening to destroy government installations in the South, along with American bases in the Pacific.
Though American officials dismissed those threats, they also noted that the broadcasters hit by the virus had been cited by the DPRK before as potential targets.
But there has never been any evidence to back up some analysts' speculation that the cyber attacks did come from the muscle-flexing DPRK.
Wednesday's attacks occurred as American and South Korean military forces were conducting major exercises. The malware is called "DarkSeoul" in the computer world and was first identified about a year ago. It is intended to evade some of South Korea's most popular antivirus products and to render computers unusable. In Wednesday's strikes, the attackers made no effort to disguise the malware, leading some to question whether it came from a state sponsor - which tend to be more stealthy - or whether officials or hackers in the DPRK were sending a specific, clear message: that they can reach into Seoul's economic heart without blowing up South Korean warships or shelling South Korean islands.
The South Korean government cautioned that it was still too early to point the finger for Wednesday's problems at Pyongyang, which has been threatening "pre-emptive nuclear attacks" and other, unspecified actions against its southern neighbor for conducting the military exercises with the United States this month and for supporting new American-led United Nations sanctions against the DPRK.
