South Korean foreign ministry email hacking alleged; unauthorised access denied
Allegations emerged that 4.5GB of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs emails were hacked by China's Ministry of State Security in January 2022. In March 2025, the US Department of Justice indicted eight Chinese hackers on charges including hacking South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry said there was no record of unauthorised access to its mailboxes.
Key facts
- Affected organisation
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Incident type
- Data breach
- Occurred / detected
- Not confirmed
- Scale of damage
- Alleged hacking of 4.5GB of emails
- Cause / method
- Not confirmed
- Location
- South Korea
If your data was exposed
- Don’t tap links in texts, calls or emails that mention this incident and offer compensation, refunds or breach checks. Check directly on the organisation’s official website or app.
- If you’ve suffered harm, report it. Call 118 (no area code) for privacy violations, contact the police for financial losses, and apply for dispute mediation to seek compensation.Personal Information Infringement Report Centre ↗Korean National Police Agency cybercrime report ↗Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee ↗
Timeline
- Allegations emerged that China's Ministry of State Security had hacked 4.5GB of Ministry of Foreign Affairs emails in January 2022.
- The US Department of Justice indicted eight Chinese hackers on charges including hacking South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there was no record of unauthorised access to its mailboxes.
5 related reports
- [단독]“中국가안전부, 작년 1월 文정부 외교부 메일 4.5GB 해킹”
- An initial investigation into the alleged data breach at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is appearing to be “fake,” the Department of Information and Communications Technology said on Thursday. https://tinyurl.com/2y9v87th
- 미, 중국 공안 연계 해커 무더기 기소...한국 외교부 해킹 혐의도
- 외교부, 중국측 메일함 해킹 논란에 "무단 접속 이력 없어"
- 미 법무부, ‘한국 외교부 해킹 등 혐의’ 중국 해커 8명 기소
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The summary and key facts are written by AI from related reports and may contain errors. Check the original articles and the organisation’s official statements for accurate details.