South Korea has been closely monitoring North Korea’s movements to deal with any possible provocations, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.
“The government is keenly watching and bracing for further provocations from the North, including the sending of leaflets and drones,” presidential spokesman Jeong Yeong-guk said.
Police said Friday they were investigating spam e-mails disguised as being sent by Cheong Wa Dae or the Foreign Ministry asking about North Korea’s fourth nuclear test on Jan.6.
The government also has been looking into propaganda leaflets found in several areas, such as Paju and Goyang in Gyeonggi Province, this week.
A North Korean drone briefly infiltrated the inter-Korean border and flew back to the North after the South fired warning shots Wednesday.
Police did not rule out that the massive spam e-mail campaign might be part of a North Korean cyber attack, but they have not confirmed whether the e-mails contain malware.
On Wednesday, President Park Geun-hye described the South as facing an “emergency situation” in security and the economy. Park voiced concern that North Korea could carry out additional provocations or cyber attacks given its “deceptive and reckless” behavior in the wake of its claimed successful hydrogen bomb test.
South Korea is working with the United States and other regional powers to punish the communist country over the test.
South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam has left for Tokyo for talks with his American and Japanese counterparts. South Korea’s chief envoy for the six-party talks, Hwang Joon-kook, said Friday after meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong that China has been “actively reviewing” a draft U.N. resolution against North Korea. But it still remains to be seen whether Beijing will exercise pressure on Pyongyang.