By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
The head of South Korea’s state intelligence agency insisted Tuesday that the organization has not been spying on regular citizens.
National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Lee Byung-ho was being questioned at the National Assembly over Monday’s revelation that his agency had purchased software from Italian firm Hacking Team.
Lee admitted that the imported program was used to keep an eye on “up to 20 North Korean spies,” according to lawmakers cited by The Korea Herald.
The perceived threat posed by hackers from the North has gained traction in recent years, after a series of alleged cyber attacks on South Korean institutions – and even Sony Pictures over its release of a movie about an assassination attempt on the reclusive state’s leader Kim Jong-un.
North Korea also stands accused of using malware to hack into thousands of South Koreans’ smartphones.
Still in need of further reassurance, members of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) were understood to be lining up an inspection of NIS facilities as soon as this week.
The NPAD’s leader lost out to President Park Geun-hye in a 2012 election scandalized by the intelligence agency’s meddling at the expense of opposition candidates.
But the ruling Saenuri Party defended the NIS after Tuesday’s parliamentary inquiry, given that Hacking Team’s software was bought by dozens of governments around the world.
This week’s controversy emerged because the Milan-based firm was itself hacked, uncovering evidence of correspondence with the NIS.
