Recruiting in China

China's rapid economic expansion has allowed Beijing to fund a recruitment drive targeting some of the best and brightest IT graduates from U.S. universities, according to Chinese sources.

In turn, this brain trust is being used by China both as a control on its own Internet revolution and as a potential resource for North Korea' cyberwar program.

South Korean defense ministry said North Korean hackers are targeting the most tightly-guarded systems of that country's main foes to extract intelligence information and to spread viruses capable of wiping out material or, at least, slowing down computers.

North Korean students learn how to use computers at an elite school in Pyongyang. AFP

Defense officials said privately that North Korea, with no great pool of computer whizzes from which to select, is relying on Chinese aid and advice to train some 600 qualified hackers in five years.
One Hong Kong-based specialist said China has a budget for hiring the best IT graduates from U.S. universities to monitor and control Internet news reporting, and useage within its own borders as well as for a national security resource. "They've got the money, and they are spending it," he said.

In North Korea, the campaign ranks as a priority for Kim Jong-Il, who whetted his appetite for computer skullduggery during visits to China and Russia several years ago. Kim made a point of visiting computer labs in both countries and decided that all North Koreans should somehow become adept at operating computers even though Internet access is forbidden except for the highly privileged elites.

Those having access include Kim Jong-Il closest relatives, friends and allies, notably from the armed forces, as well as extremely well-trained technicians who had to pass strenuous tests of loyalty before being accepted into the elite computer course.

Students are studying in China and also at an academy that South Korean officials say has been educating a cadre of elite technicians for more than 20 years in a remote mountainous region.