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North Korea's Twitter, YouTube accounts hijacked

Pranks on North Korea's YouTube and Twitter accounts coincide with birthday of heir apparent Kim Jong-Un.

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
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Elinor Mills
 
An animation that mocks North Korea's heir apparent shows him driving a sports car and mowing down impoverished women and children.
An animation that mocks North Korea's heir apparent shows him driving a sports car and mowing down impoverished women and children. Screenshot by Elinor Mills/CNET

The Twitter and YouTube accounts held by the North Korean government were hijacked over the weekend and used to post messages critical of the regime and mocking North Korea leader Kim Jong-Il's heir apparent, Kim Jong-Un.

The official Twitter account for North Korea posted messages on Saturday, the day of Jong-Un's birthday, calling for an uprising and criticizing him for reportedly hosting lavish parties while North Koreans starve, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, an animation appeared on the regime's YouTube channel the same day showing Jong-Un mowing down impoverished women and children in a sports car, the report said. The posts and video were removed but another copy of the video was still accessible.

Members of a South Korean Internet forum, DC inside, have claimed responsibility for the prank, according to reports.

The hijackings come as North Korea and South Korea prepare to begin talks at the end of the month. In November a group of South Koreans were killed on Yeonpyeong island during an exchange of artillery fire and in March a South Korean military ship was torpedoed.

Updated January 11 at 9:57 a.m. PDT to correct that DC inside is a South Korean Internet forum, not North Korean.