The country's spy agency said Wednesday that attempts to hack South Korea’s public sector last year climbed 36 percent from a year ago.

In a press conference by the National Intelligence Service, the agency reported that North Korea accounted for 80 percent of the total hacking attempts last year, with an average of one-point-62 million attempts per day.

The NIS said that over the past four years, the regime launched cyber attacks on defense companies from several countries around the world, including South Korea and Russia.

The agency warned that it detected signs that North Korea tried to incorporate generative artificial intelligence into its hacking attacks to search for hacking targets and search for technologies needed for hacking.

The intel agency anticipates an increase in cyberthreats this year amid the strained relationship with North Korea and the upcoming general elections slated for April.