Conscripted officer hacks into police chief's email

SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Yonhap) -- A conscripted police officer has been under investigation on suspicion of hacking into an email account of the country's police chief, police said Friday.
The conscript, identified only by his surname Kim, allegedly looked through emails sent to Cho Hyun-oh, commissioner general of the National Police Agency (NPA), and nine other ranking officers, according to NPA investigators.
Kim, who served in the police force in the southern port city of Busan to complete his mandatory military service, successfully sneaked into the NPA's intranet-based electronic mail system reserved for police officers through his supervisor's desktop computer, they said.
All able-bodied, young South Korean men are required to serve about two years in the military, but they can opt to join the police rather than the regular military.
Once he accessed Cho's email account, Kim took screen captures of the police chief's inbox and posted them on a website under the title: "The Security Loopholes of the NPA Intranet System," according to the investigators.
"Kim did see the top officers' email lists, but I don't think he read messages or stole any content," an NPA investigator said.
graceoh@yna.co.kr