( EDITORIAL from Korea JoongAng Daily on April 5 ) Fighting yesterday ' s warsIt is shocking that our military ' s wartime operational plan was hacked by North Korea . The Ministry of National Defense discovered the hacking of its defense computing network by North Korea in early December , but kept mum about the full implications citing an ongoing investigation of the incident . The bombshell truth has recently been reported by local media . The wartime operational plan contains guidelines for our military activities during a war with North Korea . We are dumbfounded that such sensitive military information was leaked to North Korean hackers . More shocking is our military authorities ’ consistent effort to cover up such a grave case of hacking until the media reported it . Even though North Korea began to hack our military computing networks from Sept . 23 , 2016 , our military only discovered it on Dec . 5 . In other words , it was not able to detect the North ' s persistent cyberattacks for more than two months . It turned out that North Korea implanted malicious code on a total of 3 , 200 personal computers connected to our defense computing network — 700 PCs inside the military compound and 2 , 500 PCs outside of it . Defense Minister Han Min - koo ' s PC also was infected with the malicious code . The malicious code is aimed at procuring the sensitive military information Pyongyang desires to see . Nevertheless , our defense ministry kept silent . The lead - up to the hacking only makes us more surprised . From the beginning , our military did not separate its defense computing network from the Internet or conduct regular security checkups . Control of the network was anything but safe and secure . As the hacking began at the Defense Integrated Data Center ( DIDC ) , which is responsible for keeping all types of military information , the Defense Security Command and the National Intelligence Service are focusing on investigations of the Cyber Command in charge of overseeing the DIDC . But defense ministers must take the lion ' s share of the blame for the leaks . They not only neglected to reinforce our military ’ s cyberwar capabilities , but also appointed unqualified generals as head of the Cyber Command . In comparison , the Chinese People ' s Liberation Army boasts 100 , 000 soldiers with expertise in cyberwarfare while North Korea has 6 , 000 . Our military has only 600 . In this day and age , our defense ministers did little to enhance our cyberwar capabilities . Future wars will be carried out by robots and automated systems based on computer networks , which are easy targets for hacking . North Korea ’ s cyberattacks doubled last year . China is increasingly tempted to take advantage of its top - notch cyberwar capability . Our defense ministry must do its best to raise our military ' s cyberwar power . ( END )