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Budapest Times
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
National Security Service identifies more Ukrainian spies
Máté Kocsis, ruling Fidesz's parliamentary group leader, said the National Security Service have identified more Ukrainian spies, including Roland Tseber as an 'illegal' officer of the Ukrainian intelligence service, and István Holló, who is under investigation by the National Office of Investigation on suspicion of espionage activities. After a meeting of the national security committee on Tuesday, Kocsis told a press conference that Tseber, as an 'illegal' officer, had probably been actively building relations with members of the Hungarian opposition for a long time. Kocsis added that Tseber had met several leading politicians and senior officials of parliamentary parties as part of his activities in Hungary. In the meantime, Holló's activities in Hungary involved active intelligence activities to learn about Hungary's army and energy systems in cooperation with Ukrainian military intelligence, Kocsis said. He added that Tseber was earlier a dual Ukrainian-Hungarian citizen, but he returned his Hungarian citizenship in 2017. He has built a political career in Ukraine, including as a representative of the Transcarpathian County Council, Kocsis said. Tseber had been on the radar of the Hungarian national security authorities for years, and he was banned from entering and staying in Hungary due to his intensifying activities in 2024, he added. Holló, who had also been on the radar of Hungarian counterintelligence for a long time, is a Ukrainian citizen who had never held Hungarian citizenship, Kocsis said. He has been involved in activities to influence Hungary's international reputation in a negative way and aimed to make the Hungarian government change its position concerning Ukraine with the help of external pressure, he added. In response to a question about the transparency law, Kocsis said the aim was to prevent, for instance, the disinformation campaigns that are currently underway from Ukraine, and to protect the Hungarian public space from foreign secret services and foreign state interests.
Korea Herald
17-04-2025
- Korea Herald
126 booked after yearlong crackdown on hagwon irregularities: police
After 20 months of investigating irregularities linked to the Suneung college entrance exam, South Korean police have charged 126 individuals and referred 100 of them to prosecutors, according to the National Office of Investigation on Thursday. The investigation began following a request from the Ministry of Education in July 2023, leading to a full-scale probe in August. In June 2023, the South Korean government announced reforms to the Suneung exam, including the removal of so-called, excessively difficult 'killer questions.' As part of these changes, the Education Ministry began investigating misleading ads and instances of examiners leaking questions to private academies, which is prohibited to ensure fairness. The reforms were designed to strengthen public education, reducing students' reliance on cram schools for academic success. Of the 100 individuals referred to prosecutors, 72 were schoolteachers, three were private education company officials and 11 were cram school instructors. Nine were heads of private education institutions, and five were from the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation, which issues the Suneung exam questions. The police discovered that 47 schoolteachers had illegally created and sold Suneung-related questions between 2019 and 2023, earning up to 100 million won ($70,400) each. One teacher reportedly earned 260 million won from these transactions. Each question sold for 100,000 to 500,000 won and was typically sold in sets of 20 to 30. Nineteen administrators and instructors from private education companies, including a CEO, were also referred to prosecutors for buying leaked questions. Additionally, nine teachers, experienced in creating or reviewing Suneung questions, allegedly formed a 'question-making team' and sold up to 2,946 questions, earning up to 620 million won. The police also revealed cases of university admissions officials accepting up to 3.1 million won for providing guidance to high school seniors applying to university. 'The investigation was driven by the belief that the sale of Suneung questions had become a socially acceptable practice and aimed to eliminate collusion between teachers and private education companies,' the police said. 'We will continue to target illegal practices and support educational reforms to ensure fairness in the college admissions process.'
Korea Herald
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
NK hackers sent over 120,000 malware-laced emails during martial law turmoil: police
North Korean hackers were found to be responsible for sending 126,266 emails to steal the personal information of online users in South Korea from November to January, according to the Korean National Police Agency, Tuesday. The KNPA's National Office of Investigation announced that a North Korean hacker group sent emails, titled 'Defense Counterintelligence Command's Martial Law Document,' on Dec. 11, eight days after former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration. While investigating the case, the police confirmed that the group's email hacking targeted 17,744 South Koreans, who were working in the fields of unification, diplomacy, national defense and security, for three months. Though the police did not release details about the hacker group's identity, including its name or link with North Korean agencies, Seoul officials said they confirmed the hackers' server was identical to one used in past North Korea-linked cases. Police added that they found a hacker group's attempt to collect information about North Korean defectors and South Korean military after investigating the servers. The content of the emails varied widely, ranging from the martial law-themed documents to North Korea's political outlook, invitations to concerts by popular artists and tax refund notifications. The emails impersonated the recipient's acquaintances by inserting additional spelling to the original IDs and changing parts of web addresses with visually similar letters, such as writing "rn' instead of "m." The hacking emails commonly consisted of a link, which, when clicked, would direct the users to a phishing site and request personal accounts to log in, according to the police. The officials announced that 120 people were hacked this way. While pledging utmost efforts for strict, speedy measures for any type of cyberattack and a cooperative system to respond to hacking attempts, the police asked online users to prevent damage by snubbing emails with an unidentified sender.
Korea Herald
23-03-2025
- Korea Herald
Korea to launch crackdown on organized crime involving foreign nationals
South Korea's National Police Agency will launch a nationwide crackdown targeting organized criminal activity involving foreign nationals, starting Monday and running through June 30. Authorities from the National Office of Investigation say the operation comes in response to a recent rise in highly organized and increasingly sophisticated criminal operations linked to foreign nationals, particularly in areas such as drug trafficking and vehicle theft. The police announced that the focus will be on dismantling organized crime groups, targeting economic crimes that impact livelihoods and cracking down on drug-related offenses. Officials emphasized that many of these operations are no longer isolated incidents, but instead coordinated by country or region and structured as illegal enterprises. To respond effectively, joint investigation teams composed of national and local police officers will be deployed from the early stages of any criminal incidents involving organized foreign groups. Authorities also plan to seize illicit assets before indictments are issued, and to disrupt the flow of criminal proceeds back into organizations' operating funds. Cross-border cooperation, including coordination with Interpol, will be used to trace and identify criminal actors operating beyond South Korea's borders. At the same time, the Korean National Police Agency is promoting stronger protections for undocumented foreign nationals who are victims of crime. Through the 'Exemption from Mandatory Reporting to Immigration Authorities' system, police are not obligated to report undocumented individuals who come forward as crime victims. The goal is to ensure that fear of deportation does not prevent people from reporting offenses. The agency is also offering rewards for credible tips related to international crime and has pledged to strictly protect informants' identities. South Korea had approximately 2.65 million foreign nationals staying in the country in 2024, including about 397,500 undocumented or overstayed individuals. The number declined in 2021 due to COVID-19, dropping to 1.96 million, but has since increased over three consecutive years — reaching 2.25 million in 2022 and 2.51 million in 2023. Crime statistics show a similar trend. According to the National Office of Investigation, the number of foreign nationals suspected of criminal activity decreased from 35,390 in 2020 to 29,450 in 2021, before rising again to 39,540 in 2022. It dropped to 32,737 in 2023 and then rose to 35,283 in 2024. While these individuals represent a small share of the overall foreign population in South Korea, police say the nature and organization of some offenses warrant increased scrutiny and coordinated enforcement.
Korea Herald
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Presidential bodyguards purge official over Yoon Suk Yeol's arrest: reports
With suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol have been abruptly released from jail on March 8, the Presidential Security Service appears to be taking action against officials involved in facilitating his arrest. According to local media reports, the PSS' disciplinary committee, which convened last week, has decided to dismiss a senior official who met investigators after the law enforcement's first attempt to arrest Yoon was thwarted by PSS staff and military personnel who formed human barricade to block their entry. A dismissal is one of the most severe sanctions under the service's regulations, second only to expulsion. Korean-language dailies Hankyoreh and Hankook Ilbo reported the dismissed official on Jan. 12 opposed Yoon's order to review the use of force on as well as PSS Deputy Chief Kim Sung-hoon's directive to arm personnel with "heavy firearms" if another attempt was made to carry out a court-issued warrant to detain the suspended president. Heavy firearms normally include: heavy machine guns, mortars, antitank weapons, grenade launchers and portable shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles. The senior PSS official was removed from duty on Jan. 12. The PSS at that time issued a statement saying the measure was due to the leak of confidential information, not the official's remarks opposing the orders. It said, 'We verified that (the official) met with two officials from the National Office of Investigation at a hotel to share inside information about the locations of key military facilities.' The second attempt of the joint probe team to take Yoon into custody on Jan 15, however, was successful, as this time, the PSS staff did not actively resist the investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and the police, who were able to enter the presidential compound and arrest Yoon. During a National Assembly hearing on Jan. 22, the official in question was asked by lawmakers whether they were removed from performing their duties by PSS' Deputy Chief Kim and responded, 'Yes.' Addressing the meeting with the two officials from the National Office of Investigation, the official said at the hearing, 'I went out at the request of an acquaintance who was worried about the nation. We discussed our opinions for 30 minutes about the atmosphere within the police and the security service after the first attempt.' Kim, the acting PSS chief, is under investigation for obstructing the execution of the warrant. Regarding Monday's media reports regarding the person subjected to dismissal, the PSS said, 'The related procedure is underway and nothing has been confirmed yet,' and that detailed information cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality.
