The United States is drawing up plans for cyber attacks on North Korea in an effort to bring the regime of Kim Jong-Un to heel, according to intelligence sources, as Pyongyang says it is ready for "both dialogue and war" as the Winter Olympics draws to a close.
Washington's potential plans for a series of "bloody nose" attacks on targets in North Korea, as revealed by The Telegraph, could focus on digital rather than conventional warfare, sources have suggested.
A cyber assault could cripple Pyongyang's online communications and ability to control its military, causing huge disruption but avoiding the loss of life. It may also assuage concerns that a conventional attack against missile sites or nuclear facilities by the US could trigger a massive counter-strike by Kim Jong-Un.
Quoting senior US intelligence sources, Foreign Policy magazine said there has been a “nearly unprecedented scramble inside the agencies responsible for spying and cyber warfare” aimed at the Korean Peninsula.
In the last six months, the US has been covertly laying the groundwork for cyber attacks that would be routed through South Korea and Japan, where the US has extensive military facilities. The preparations include installing fibre cables into the region and setting up remote bases and listening posts from where hackers will attempt to gain access to North Korea’s version of the Internet, which is walled off from the rest of the world.
Another official told the magazine that a large part of the US spying and cyber warfare capability is being refocused on North Korea, including analysis of signals intelligence, overhead imagery and geospatial intelligence.
Analysts with expertise in other areas – such as the war on narcotics or monitoring geo-political issues in Africa – are also being reassigned to the new Korea Mission Centre at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The ongoing head-to-head between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dominated headlines worldwide - and even inspired carnival floats, as in this parade in Mainz, Germany last week CREDIT: RALPH ORLOWSKI/REUTERS
In addition, military intelligence analysts on reserve status are being summoned back into service to focus on North Korea, while US intelligence agencies have been actively recruiting analysts with Korean language skills. The magazine reported that some of the positions are for specialists with experience in identifying and recruiting human intelligence sources.
The Defence Clandestine Service, a division of the Defence Intelligence Agency, has reportedly increased its presence in the region and is “working on putting the elite of the elite on the peninsula to collect and respond”, an intelligence official told the magazine.
There are suggestions that the US could fire a “warning shot” over Pyongyang’s bow as it continues to hack cryptocurrency markets to steal digital currency. Most recently, authorities believe – but have been unable to prove – that North Korean hackers got away with Y58 billion (GBP380 million) from Tokyo-based exchange operator Coincheck in January.
Cut off from the global banking system by international sanctions, Pyongyang is apparently attempting to obtain virtual currency to pay for the continued development of its nuclear weapons and missile programmes.
North Korea has reportedly set up a 6,000-strong hacking unit and is strongly suspected of being behind a number of cyberattacks on South Korean banks, media companies and infrastructure, including nuclear power plants, in recent years.
As well as gathering intelligence on military, scientific and political developments in the North, US cyber warfare experts are likely to be tasked with accessing the regime’s command-and-control structure in order to interfere with Pyongyang’s ability to communicate with its military and launch counterattacks.
The news of the cyber attack plans comes as North Korea reminded the international community that it was ready for both dialogue and war, as the Winter Olympics draws to a close.
The comments, released via the state-run Korean Central News Agency, accused the US of undermining recent progress in relations between the two Koreas and swaying world opinion into supporting war with the North.
Pyongyang was also critical of US officials for suggesting that the military route remained an option in dealing with the regime’s nuclear programme, although it didn't refer to any cyber plans.
“Such nonsense won’t work on the DPRK,” it said. “The DPRK is fully ready for both dialogue and war. The whole world knows this fact but why the US is unaware of it.”
It added: “The army and people of the DPRK are full of strength and will to teach the US with resolute and merciless punishment that the latter’s reckless military option will never offer a way to survive."
Pyongyang’s comments came just one day after Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, said he was “listening” for signs that North Korea was ready to engage in direct talks.
“My job as chef diplomat is to ensure that the North Koreans know, we keep our channels open," Mr Tillerson told a CBS news show.
“I am listening. I am not sending a lot of messages back because there’s nothing to say to them at this point. So I am listening for you to tell me you are ready to talk.”
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