The Defense Ministry says North Korea's intelligence warfare capability is estimated to have reached the level of advanced countries.

The ministry said in a report to the National Assembly's National Defense Committee Monday that the North Korean military command has 500 to 600 hacking personnel assigned to infiltrate South Korea's computer network systems. The hackers have reportedly received five years of training at universities in their area of expertise.

The report said their main task is to penetrate the computer systems of South Korea, the United States and Japan in order to launch cyber attacks or gather intelligence.