SEOUL, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Websites of the South Korean presidential office and another government agency were shut down on Tuesday due to cyber attacks by unidentified hackers who claimed to be part of the hacktivist group Anonymous, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Websites of presidential office Cheong Wa Dae and the Office of Government Policy Coordination were reportedly hacked by unidentified cyber attackers around 9:30 a.m. local time.
Right after the hacking attack, the presidential office homepage showed a message in red letters of "Great leader Kim Jung- un." Kim Jung-un is the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DRPK).
For 10 minutes from about 10:00 a.m., another posting was displayed at the website with a message of "We Are Anonymous. We Are Legion. We Do Not Forgive. We Do Not Forget. Expect Us," along with the picture of South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
The message also said "Unification President, General Kim Jung- un Hurruh. Attacks will last until our requirements are met. Wait for us. Greet us. From Anonymous Korea in support of democracy and unification."
It was unclear until now who launched the hacking attack, according to a South Korean government official cited by Yonhap. The hacktivist group Anonymous has said that it would make cyber attacks on the DPRK's websites, but it was also unclear whether the Anonymous was behind the Tuesday's attacks.
Some South Korean ministries, including the Unification Ministry, were in troubles of accessing their homepages in the morning. Websites of some branches of the ruling Saenuri Party were suspected to be under cyber attack with the troubles in access.
Troubles in some media websites were proven to be temporary setbacks due to heavy traffic rather than hacking, according to Yonhap.
The South Korean government issued the fourth-highest level of cyber alert at 10:45 a.m. following the suspected cyber attack. The country's cyber alert consists of a five-notch scale.
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