Nuclear reactor blueprints leaked online

An employee of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corp. enters the company’s main offices in southern Seoul, Sunday. The government is attempting to trace a hacker who has posted a number of internal documents sourced from the reactor operator on the Internet since Dec. 15. The hacker threatened to make additional information public unless the government stops operating three of the nation’s nuclear reactors by Christmas. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

Internal documents sourced from Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corp. (KHNP), including blueprints of atomic reactors, and posted on a Twitter account page Sunday have raised concerns over safety and security.

The person who uploaded the information, thought to be a Korean living on Hawaii in the United States, is threatening to reveal further information unless the government immediately stops operations at three of the nation’s 23 reactors.

A government team is working to trace the person. It has sent investigators to an unidentified region where the person is believed to live.

The self-described “president of an anti-nuclear group in Hawaii," leaked the designs and manuals for the Gori-2 and Wolsong-1 nuclear reactors as well as the facilities’ air-conditioning and cooling systems on Twitter at 1:32 a.m.

The person sought by authorities previously posted other information on a blog, including the personal profiles of 10,799 KHNP officials and how to manage control software at nuclear reactors.

The person said that 100,000 additional pages of data from the reactor operator will be made public unless the government shuts down Gori-1, 3 and Wolsong-2 nuclear reactors by Christmas. “Maybe I can talk with you about handing over the information I got after the reactors are shut down,” wrote anonymous hacker.

“I believe you’ll guarantee my safety. You may have to pay a little bit.”

The blog, held on Naver, the nation’s largest search portal, has been shut down since Thursday afternoon.

The KHNP still has not found how the information was obtained, although the person who uploaded them claimed to have hacked the KHNP website.

When the issue came to light on Wednesday, the KHNP asked the Seoul Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the Korean National Policy Agency’s Cyber Bureau to investigate.

Speaking to the investigators, the person said, “You should think about the safety of people of the country first. You’d better stop the investigation if you are going to cover up the wrongdoing of the KHNP.”

He described KHNP officials as “villains” and said, “Let’s see if you will take responsibility when the information on blueprints, systems and programs are all disclosed to the countries that want them.”

The alleged hacker added, “Residents near the reactors should stay away for the next few months.”

But the KHNP claimed the safety and security of the reactors would not be undermined, saying the leaked documents did not contain core information.

But it is not known how much information the person has obtained.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement on Friday it found no traces of cyber attacks on its main control network for nuclear reactors.

However, after part of KHNP’s system was confirmed to be infected with a malignant code, the ministry asked the KHNP to strengthen the security of its computers and networks.

The KHNP manages 23 nuclear reactors in Korea, which relies on nuclear power for 30 percent of its energy needs.

It has been estimated that the Fukushima nuclear meltdown will cost up to $100 billion for the cleanup alone over the next 40 years ― an alarming warning for Korea.