:: North Korea has accused Japan of building a cyberspace attack force in its military for attacking the computer systems of rival countries, under the pretext of self-defense.

The Japanese Defense Ministry is planning to boost the size and capability of its cyber unit under the excuse of self-defense against hackers, according to the official newspaper Rodong Sinmun.

The members of the cyber unit will be drastically increased and a department for specializing in cyber attack capability will be set up.

“Their cyber unit is not for merely protecting the computer system of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) from hacking, but for attacking the computer systems of its rivals,” Xinhua quoted. “If they are engrossed in war hysteria for re-invasion (of the Korean peninsula) while talking about the improvement of the so-called attacking capability, far from drawing a lesson from their crimes-woven past history, they will follow in the footsteps of their defeated predecessors,” it said.

But the Japanese Defense Ministry announced last month of increasing the number of soldiers in its cyber defense unit from the current 110 to 1,000 as a part of the government’s plan to boost its cyber defense capabilities ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.