A South Korean military intelligence agency says North Korea has been collecting intelligence on South Korea through a military hacking unit.

An official of the South's Defense Security Command said Thursday that the crack contingent of hackers had been set up under orders from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il with the aim of stealing a wide range of information from South Korean government agencies and research bodies.

It is the first time for the defense agency to officially confirm the existence of such a hacking unit in North Korea, even though Representative Kang Chang-sung of the Grand National Party had claimed as early as last September that Pyongyang was fostering hacking agents.

The defense official said his agency learned that the North selects outstanding graduates from a top military university and gives them intensive training on computer-related subjects to later appoint them as commissioned officers of the hacking unit.

The official added that the hacking capability of the North Korean unit is assessed to be equivalent to that of the CIA of the United States.