North Korea tried to steal information about COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments by hacking drugmaker Pfizer, a South Korean lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Ha Tae-keung said he and other lawmakers were briefed by the South Korean intelligence agency on North’s attempts to obtain coronavirus-related technology.
“There were attempts to steal the COVID vaccine and treatment technology during cyber attacks and Pfizer was hacked,” he said.
The spy agency denied mentioning the name of the pharmaceutical company, but Ha said he saw documents saying: “North Korea stole Pfizer (information about the vaccine)”.
Ha said lawmakers were forced to return documents at the end of the briefing behind closed doors, but added that the text about Pfizer “was so clear that I didn’t even ask about it verbally”.
Pfizer did not immediately comment.
The alleged invasion comes after reports last year that North Korea attempted to break into the networks of at least nine healthcare companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Novavax Inc. and AstraZeneca.
The Hermit Kingdom insisted that it had not reported any coronavirus infection since the pandemic began – a statement widely questioned by experts who note that the country borders China, the original epicenter of the outbreak.
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