Anonymous Hacks North Korean Social Sites

By Gilbert Falso :: 10:06 AM

The hacking group Anonymous has announced that it successfully breached several of North Korea’s social media accounts that it uses for propaganda spreading purposes.

In addition to gaining access to North Korea’s Twitter and Flickr accounts, the hacking collective also claims to have forced at least two North Korean websites offline - Uriminzokkiri, a news site, and the site for Air Koryo, North Korea’s airline.

Anonymous is calling their hacking initiative “Operation Free Korea”, and the participants have called for North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to step down, and for a democratic government to be put in place. In addition, Anonymous is calling on the country to provide open, unfiltered access to the Internet for all its citizens.

In several places online, Anonymous has published the following message to North Koreans:

 “To the citizens of North Korea we suggest to rise up and bring [this] oppressive government down! We are holding your back and your hand, while you take the journey to freedom, democracy and peace. You are not alone. Don’t fear us, we are not terrorist, we are the good guys from the internet. AnonKorea and all the other Anons are here to set you free.”

It is not likely that many North Korean’s will see this message, however, as Internet access within the country is tightly controlled, and the citizens that do have access are likely to be routed onto an Intranet of sorts that only keeps them on sites within the country.

Despite being a rather reclusive nation, North Korea has been a heavy user of US-based commercial social media sites like Twitter and Flickr for spreading propaganda about the country.