Cybertwar

Spotlight:
North Korea
A Deep Analysis Of The
Darkest Nation On The
By David Gewirtz
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orth Korea is a strange country that
almost seems frozen in time -- a
bizarre, frozen-in-time, armed-to-the-
teeth, crazy-dangerous country.
In a bizarre country fi ll ed with
bizarre stories, one of the weird-
est stori es is the one that tell s
how the two countries came to
be divided at the 38th Paral-
lel. Two then-young officers,
General Charles Bonesteel and
Colonel Dean Rusk (who would
eventually become U.S. Secre-
taty of State under both Ken-
The Korean peninsula was one of the
many spoils of war taken from the
Japanese at the end of World War II.
Korea had been occupied by the Japanese since 1910. In
1945, the Allies found themselves in possession of a country
both war-torn and leaderless.
Since the U.S. and the Soviets (still sort of alli es at the time) couldn' t quite figure out what to
do about Korea they decided to split it in two, letti ng the U.S. deal with the southern part of
the country and handing over the northern part to Soviet control.
I nedy and Johnson) were tasked
with determining the American
occupation zone for Korea.
As the story is told, they were
completely unprcparcd, knew
very little about Korean history,
and simply used an available
Nati onal Geographi c Magazine
map to draft the di viding line
between the two nati ons.
Koreans (you know, the actual
peopl e li ving there) were none
too thrilled with thi s di vision,
but they were once again li ving
under the rul e of fore ign lead-
ers. Although both the Soviets
and the U.S. claimed an inten-
tion for a united Korea shortly
ailer the end of World War II ,
that never happened. Instead,
North Korea was to begin its
long slide into isolationi sm,
and South Korea was to begin
the process of becoming the
economic giant it is today.
Faced with the pro blem of
governing Nonh Korea, Stali n
needed to find a leader to rLin
the country. As it turned out ,
there was a young Soviet Army
officer of Korean descent born
as Kim Song-ju, btu who now
ca ll ed himse lf Kim II-s ung,
whi ch means "become the sun" .
There are disputed reports here,
but some academi cs believe
there was another man named
Kim II-sung who had been a
promill ell tl eader in the Korean
resistance and Kim Song-ju co-
opted the name to increase hi s
own personal legend. Another
story by Russ ian scholar An-
drei Nikolaevich Lankov has it
that the ori ginal " Kim II-sung"
was "s wit c he d" wi th Kim
Song-ju when Stalin needed a
compliant puppet to run Korea.
This all led to some more s il-
liness. On the one hand, the
No rth c laimed t hat it s new
leader almost singl e- handedl y
defeated the Japanese. On the
other hand, the South Koreans
claimed that Kim was an im-
poster who'd stol en th e good
name of a true patri ot.
As nutty as Kim Jong-II may
have seemed to Western eyes,
there was one thing deadly
serious about the man: his
"military first" program.
Go figure.
The man Stalin picked, the man
now known as Kim II-sung,
spoke mostl y Chinese, spoke
no Korean at all , but had been
a fighter and anti-Japanese
di ssident most of hi s life. Ar-
ter a lengthy velling process
personall y conducted by infa-
mous Soviet secret pol ice head
La vre nti y Pav lovich Ber ia,
Stalin decided to appoint Kim
as leader of North Korea, send-
ing the young officer back to
a country he hadn' t seen since
childhood.
Even though Kim spoke barely
any Korean, the legend he' d
built for himse lf as a fighter
against the Japanese helped him
establish early support in th e
new nation. He quickl y moved
to consoli date power by build-
ing up the military with Soviet
military gear left in the country
after the war.
Apparently, Stalin wasn' t par-
ticularl y excit ed abo ut Kim
attempt ing to reunify Korea
three yea rs lat er by starting
the Korean War. Neither was
China. Even so, Kim II-sung
rolled over the 38t h parallel ,
strai ght int o the wai ling arms
of American troops.
The Korean War didn' t go well
for Kim. I-Ie event uall y had to
leave the nation, as Amer icans
moved deep into the north. It
was on ly ailer the Chinese es-
sentially took over the war from
Kim and pushed the Americans
back down to the South that
Kim was able to return.
By this time, Kim had some-
what strained re lati ons with
China and the Soviets. He had
shown himself to be something
of a loose cannon. H is country
had been prell y Illuch blasted
into obli vion, and his economy
was in a shambles.
He decided that the best ap-
proach was a hard-core com-
mand economy, centrali z ing
everything and building up the
milit3ly. He' d seen what cult-
of-persona lit y had done for
hi s earl y support as leader and
decided to go all out, creating a
massive personality cult around
himself as "'Great Leader".
Kim II- sung al so inculcated in
his population the philoso-
phy of Jllcile (which mea ns
"self- reliance", but could just
as easi ly mea n " us agai ns t
the world") . Kim essenti a ll y
cut hi s country off from the
world economy, plunged hi s
populace int o poverty, and
channeled all hi s country's
resources into building up hi s
milita ry mi ght.
Thi s was prett y much North
Korea's story until 1994, when
Kim's son, Yuri Irsenovich
Kim, became leader of North
iacsp.com
---
Korea. Oh, what? You' re not
fa miliar with Yuri Irsenovich
Kim, the Sovi et Union-born
child of Kim II-sung. Perhaps
yo u know him by hi s adopted
name, Kim Jong- II , the man
mo re popularl y known as
" Dear Leader" .
Stories of young Kim Jong-
II 's Ii fe are as bi za rre as those
of hi s father. Shortly after the
e lder Kim moved back to Ko-
rea into the former home of a
Japanese officer with a pool ,
the boy still known as Yuri
was suspected of pushing hi s
brother Kim Pyo ng-II int o a
pool , causi ng him to drown.
"' Dear Leader" had always
been a strange character. He
apparently had a fa sc ination
with Elvis , and even wore
Elvis glasses and a n Elvis
jump suit. He is sa id to have
amassed a huge collection of
western DVDS, and at one
point kidnapped South Korean
movie stars, putting them to
work creat ing a North Korean
film " industry".
As nutty as Kim Jong-II may
have seemed to Western eyes,
there wa s one thing deadl y
se rious about the man: his
" military first" program. He
continued hi s father's JlIche
program, even further isolat ing
North Korea from the world.
Kim Jong-II also continued
the country's military build-up,
making it one of the most dan-
gerous militaries on the planet.
According to the U.S. Depart-
ment of State, North Korea has
the fourth largest military in
the world, with more than 1. 2
million active troops, and the
largest military per- capita of
any nation. North Korea is also
a nuclear-capabl e stat e and is
reputed to have the ability to
place vehi cles int o Earth orbit.
So, now you have a nation that 's
not just broke and crazy, but
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broke, Cr<l zy and armed to the leeth.
To sny North Korea is dangeroll s
would be a massive understatement.
It gels worse. Up until last year,
North Korea (and its approximately
1.2 milli on troops, 4,060 tanks,
2,500 A PCs, 17,900 artillery pieces,
11 ,000 air defense guns, 10,000
man-porlablc air-defense and anti-
tank guided missi les, 9 15-ship
'avy, I , 74S-aircraft Air Force, the
world's largest submarine nect, and
a pile ofnll kcs) were controlled by
a crazed limboy Elvi s impersonator.
But last year. Kim J0l1 g-11 di ed and,
reportedly, North Korea is now be-
ing led by hi s youngest son, Kim
l Ull g-Un. But here, again, reports
are hazy. In facl. it ' s not even clear
lhal Kim Jong-II lived all the way
to 20 II. There are other report s
that Kim lung-II died as rar back
as 2003, and body-doubles were
ll sed by other Nort h Korean leaders
to COil vince the out side world that
Kim Jong-II was still in power.
A It hough that theory has been large-
ly discredited. there still remains
the question or Kim lung-Un and
hi s hold on North Korean power.
The youngest Kim was reportedly
chosen as the "Great Sucecssor"
artcr hi s older brother, Kim Jong-
nam, was caught in 200 I lI si ng a
fake passport tryi ng to sneak into
Tokyo Di sneyland. Hi s rather later
declared Ki m Jong-nam " 100 er-
feminate" to be hi s successor. Seri -
oll sly. YOll can ' t make thi s stufTup.
Very little is known of North Ko-
rca' s new, 28-year-old dictator,
except that he has apparently been
willing to carry on his fat her' s prac-
tice ofkill ing ofThi s detractors and
polit ical enemi es.
or interest to ollr di scussion or cy-
bcrwar, though, Kim Jung-Un was
educated at the Intemationai School
ofBem, Switzerl and and is reported
10 have swdi ed computer sc ience.
That said, it ' s hard to tell hi s level
of technica l experti se. After all ,
hi s fat her was once known in 2007
to proclaim himselr an " Int ernet
Expert " in a country wi th barely
any Int ernet connect ions.
While Kim Jong-II was
never able to deploy jets
and submarines, he was
able, in his last years,
to utilize North Korea's
cyberforces with some
degree of regularity -
and see a result that far
outstripped the cost.
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That conveniently leads us to the
queslion of Nonh Korea and Ihe
cybcr threat. The nat ion has barely
;my Inlemet presence, and barely
any of its cit izens have access to
the Intemet (or phones or TV, for
that mailer). Even so, it appears that
cash-strapped North Korea has fi g-
ured out there's money to be Illade
in them-thar Inlcrnet hill s, and is
reported to be nllming a number of
rather serious !tHemel hacking op-
erati ons -- many of them focused on
extracting cash from South Koreans.
As far back as 2009, Pyongyang
was suspected of being involved in
DDoS (Di stributed Deni al of Ser-
vice) auacks aimed at Ihe U.S. and
South Korea. CBS News report ed
that the Treasury Department, Secret
Service, Federal Trade Commi ssion
and Transp0l1ation Department Web
sites were all attacked and bogged
down over the July4, 2009 holiday.
South Korean sites including the
presidenti al Blue House, the De-
rense Ministry, the Nat ional Assem-
bly, Shinhan Bank, Korea Exchange
Bank and Internet portal Naver were
also pummeled in the attack.
Si nce 2009, it appears North Korea
may have been refining its game.
In June 20 11 , two North Korean
educators defected to South Korea.
In an interview with Aljazeera,
North Korean computer science
professor Kim I-Ieung-kwang and
hacker Jang Se-yul wamed of North
Korea's cyberwar infrastructure.
Kim I-Ieung-kw<lng claims North
Korea operates cyberwarfare train-
ing unit s at I-I amheung Computer
College and Hamheung Communist
Coll ege. He says that North Korea
recruit s promi sing student s fr om
hi gh school, trains them loca ll y,
and then shi ps them out for ad-
vanced hack ing training in China
and Russia.
"After the overseas train ing, they
:uc placed in various warfare units
to serve as cyberwarriors", Kim
I-I eung-kwang said. As of the inter-
view, he rcp0l1cd that North Korea
had nearl y 3,000 cyberwarri ors.
Because or North Korea's practi ce
or comparunenlali zation. though.
this number is probably inaeeurale.
It 's highly unlikely that the professor
had access to the full extenl of North
Korea' s activities. Since he has been
out of North Korea ror years, it 's
also likely the program has grown.
At thi s point , it is highl y likely that Pyong-
yang's invest ment in cyberwar is far greater
than the 3,000 trained hackers he spoke of
to Alj azeera or even the 10,000 hackers I' ll
di scll ss lalcr in this an icle.
I r you think about it, cyberwaf provides the
same asymmetrical wnrfare benefits 10 North
Korea as it docs for olher players. Bui lding a
cybcrmilitary force can be incredibly cost cnec-
livc. It' s far less expensive to hOllse thollsands
of high-school students and keep Ihem in the
Korean equivalent of pizza and Doritos than it is
to continue to build and maintain conventional
military forces.
It must have been frustrating for Kim Jong- II.
For all those years, he had this cnonnOlLS military
force, but nowhere to really usc il. Sure, he could
dream of attacking South Korea like his father
did, but histOlY had already shown he wouldn' t
be able to stand agai nst Western forces. More
recently, Saddalll had tried invading Kuwait ,
and Kim had the opportunity to see how well
that worked out for the Iraqi leader.
On the other hand, cybcrstrength is a stealthy
force. It can be deployed without generati ng <I
literally incendi ary response. While Kim long-II
was never able to deploy jets and submarines, he
was able, in his [asl years, to utili ze North Ko-
rea's cyberforccs with some degree of regularity
-- and sec a result that far outstripped the cos!.
" Finall y, North Korea has recognized the Inter-
net's inherent weakness from its very incepti on
in the mid- J990s. It realized that , as long as it
maintained an attack network, it could easily
hack into strategic targets with considerable
speed. That' s why they were driven to aggres-
sively engage China in military exchanges to
quickly build up a cybcrforce of 500 hackers.
"Cybe rforc e is structured around huma n
capital , technology and systemization of
the two, and or these three element s North
Korea has focused intensely on nurturing
comput er whizzes," Kim I-Ieung-kwang said.
Of course, there is one ot her reason why
North Korea is int erested in cyberwarfare :
it call be insanely profitabl e.
The Economi st repo rt s that , accordin g to
South Korean police, the North operates at
least 10,000 trained hackers, many of which
arc breaking into gamcrs account s in the sOllth
and stealing money, whi ch they return back to
their northern masters.
So what 's the bottol11 line
with North Korea?
There are a number of key factors, but the most
important is unccllainty. North Korea has long
been a desperatel y impoveri shed, anti-social na-
ti on that invests almost exclusively in warfighting.
iacsp.com
Because we don' t know much about Kim Jung-
Un, including how strongly he holds onto power,
we cnn't reall y be SlIre exact ly how North Korea
will behave. However, if the country continues \0
follow both Juche and mi litary-firsl policies, it's
probable that the country will be putting most of
its asset s into warfare.
Combine that with a proven warfighting modality
like cyberwarfare that 's so incredibly inexpen-
sive and demonstrably effective, and it becomes
abundal11ly clear that North Korea wi ll not onl y
continue its cyberwarfnre efforts, but also is
likely to be stepping it up considerably over the
coming years.
About the Author
David Gewirtz i.l the direclOr of the u.s. Strategic
Perspectil'e Illstill/te and editor-ill-chief of fh e ZA7Z
feclmicalmogozilles. He regularly wrifes commellfO/yond
for CNN .\. Anderson Cooper 360. (llId has II Tiflell
more fl/(lll 700 arficle.\ abollf tecllllologJt David is aforlller
pmfossor of campI/fer has leclwed (II Princetoll.
Berkeley. UCLA. a"d Stallford. has been awarded tlte
presTigious Sigma Xi Research AII"aITI ill Ellgineerillg. alld
lI'as a calldidate for the 2008 PuliTzer Pri=e ill Leflers.
He is the Cyberrerrorism Advisorfor lACS? Dal'id ....
lliob siTe is (II Davie/Gewirtz.colII Nead his blog
a f CNN AnderSOI/ Cooper 360 for politics, poliC)\ alld
Read !tis blog a f CBS IlIIeractil'e S
ZDNef GOI'erlllllelll where tech meets Polific.\ I_
(lnd gOI'cmmclII. 0,. Follow him 011 "firifler a/
@D(IIidGewirc .
T It; Juurnal Ur (,ounWrVJrronsr'1 & nu TIt'I,,:HId y Internatlora