South Korean officials continue to change their story on this week’s cyberattacks, which knocked out several major websites in the nation. Though they still seem to be hoping to blame the incident on North Korea, the trail is getting more and more vague.
Yesterday’s reports that the attacks originated in China have been retracted now, with officials conceding that the first attacks actually came from South Korea-based IP addresses.
The only link to China left is a claim by researchers that the attacks, whoever they are, userd a popular exploit kit designed by Chinese cyber-criminals. They concede that it was probably just acquired by them, and the attack was unlikely to have come from the actual designers.
US experts say they wouldn’t be surprised if North Korea did acquire the exploit kit, saying “if they wanted to get into a black market for cyber stuff, they would be good at that.” Yet this remains far from proof, or even evidence that it actually was them.
As a guy who has been in South Korea for a few years, I can vouch for their shameless use of propaganda by the government, especially if it supports American-made narratives. It really is too bad, because if they remain wholly committed to the U.S. they may come to regret it in the years ahead if the U.S. either retrenches or simply loses the ability to maintain its pacific based empire (though I'm not expecting this anytime soon, obviously). Economic consequences are very possible as well in the long run. Why unnecessarily anger China? Because the ruling elite are in virtual lockstep with the U.S., blindly loyal, a good portion of them educated in American universities. Of course, they are fed propaganda from year one themselves. Indeed, I have apartment mates and buddies here who have told tales of their mandatory army days and the yearly reserve training they have to attend. They are told, quite baldly really, that America is their protector that guarantees their independence from the North, who are their enemies (shown scary videos of North Korean soldiers training, throwing knives at targets and the like). Lost, of course, is the irony that nobody is independent that is dependent. Anyhow, for those under the illusion (as I was before I came here) that there is somehow a fairly prominent base of resentment or opposition to the U.S., think again. That faded a few years after the infamous incident of the American armed vehicle running over a few school girls. The South is basically in the U.S. back pocket and if anything, the only thought the majority of South Koreans have is "what will happen if the U.S. leaves?" With the exception of a fairly small minority, they can't see they are occupied, that they don't have an independent foreign policy and are blind to the countless crimes committed by their protectors around the world. It's a perfect imperialist outpost.
Oh, too bad. With all the hooting and hollering from the South Korean government, and the US by extension, you'd have thought it was a Pearl Harbor event on the Korean peninsula. More like a Gulf of Tonkin false flag than anything.