Election watchdog's Web site attacked before elections

The Web site of the national election watchdog came under a cyber attack on the eve of Wednesday's general elections, watchdog officials said.

The Web site was hit by a so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack late Tuesday between 10:27 p.m. and

11:01 p.m., officials at the National Election Commission (NEC) said. A search engine on the Web site, which helps voters find their designated polling station, was also attacked between 11:02 p.m. and 11:20 p.m., they said.

The NEC said it resumed all services within minutes by moving to a cyber shelter, and asked the police to investigate the attack.

The Web site was also attacked during the Oct. 26 by-elections last year, triggering a large-scale investigation that implicated a former aide of a ruling party lawmaker, among others.

A special counsel was set up last month to clear up lingering suspicions that ruling party lawmakers may have masterminded the attack to affect the elections, which eventually chose opposition-backed independent candidate Park Won-soon as mayor of Seoul. (Yonhap News)