North Korea accused of trying to hack, steal Pfizer vaccine, South Korea says

North Korea’s crack squad of hackers allegedly tried to steal the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 that landed in Australia on Monday.

North Korea attempted to steal information about COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments by hacking the drugmaker Pfizer, a South Korean politician said on Tuesday.

Ha Tae-keung said that he and other politicians were briefed by South Korea’s intelligence agency about the North’s attempts to obtain coronavirus-related technology.

“There were attempts to steal COVID vaccine and treatment technology during cyber attacks and Pfizer was hacked,” he said.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaking during a meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on Friday. Picture: AFP/KCNA via KNS

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The spy agency denied that it had mentioned the pharmaceutical company by name, but Mr Ha said he saw documents saying, “North Korea stole Pfizer (vaccine information).”

Mr Ha said the politicians were required to return the documents at the end of the closed-door briefing, but added that wording about Pfizer “was so clear that I didn’t even ask about that verbally”.

Pfizer did not have an immediate comment.

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The Pfizer vaccine has to be kept at below-freezing temperatures. Picture: Fred Tanneau / AFP

Empty vials of the Pfizer vaccine. Picture: Fred Tanneau/AFP

The alleged hacking comes after reports last year that North Korea attempted to break into the networks of at least nine health care firms, including Johnson & Johnson, Novavax Inc. and AstraZeneca.

The hermit kingdom has insisted it has reported no coronavirus infections since the pandemic began – a claim widely doubted by experts who note that it shares a border with China, the original epicentre of the outbreak.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission