South Korea's intelligence agency told lawmakers on Tuesday, that North Korea has attempted to hack into their drug manufacturers' computer systems to obtain information related to coronavirus vaccines and treatment.
At a closed-door parliamentary session, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported the average daily number of cyberattacks in South Korea has increased 32 per cent year-on-year to about 1.58 million cases, most of which were unsuccessful, Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party told reporters after the session, Yonhap news agency reported.
Ha claimed that Pfizer is believed to have been attacked by the North, citing documents provided by the NIS and other sources that he declined to specify.
The NIS also said that North Korea has enhanced its crackdown on anti-socialist acts, upping the punishment for distributing video material from South Korea to the death penalty, according to lawmakers.
Anyone caught watching South Korean videos is punishable by a jail term of up to 15 years, the NIS said.
"To put it simply, it's punishment for the 'Korean Wave,'" Ha said.
On the public absence of leader Kim Jong-un's wife, Ri Sol-ju, the NIS said that no unusual signs or intelligence have been collected.
The lawmakers also quoted the NIS as saying that North Korea has changed leader Kim's official title in English to "president" from "chairman."
*Edited from an IANS report