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South Korea·Technology·Diplomacy

South Korea's foreign ministry server hacked for 10 months, exposing 10,000 officials' data

Wednesday, 22 July 2026, 07:35 · 1 min read

A training system server operated by the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), South Korea's institution for foreign service training, was hacked and went undetected for approximately 10 months, exposing the personal data of roughly 10,000 people including active diplomats, intelligence officers posted abroad, and former officials. The breach, believed to have begun in April or May of last year, was only discovered in February when the National Intelligence Service alerted the Foreign Ministry; investigators are examining whether a state-backed group, possibly linked to North Korea, was responsible. The incident is considered particularly serious because the compromised identities of covert intelligence operatives working under diplomatic cover could pose a direct national security threat, and it has prompted calls for a sweeping overhaul of independently operated servers and data management practices across all government ministries.

Sources
Yonhap(EDITORIAL from Korea JoongAng Daily on July 22) ↗︎
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