Nearly 560-thousand hacking attempts against the government were detected over the past six years.

According to an interior ministry report submitted to Rep. Lee Hae-sik of the main opposition Democratic Party on Tuesday, 558-thousand-674 attempts to hack the government's key computer systems were detected between 2017 and July of this year.

The annual number of hacking attempts has been on the rise from 62-thousand-532 to around 101-thousand-980 in 2021.

An analysis of internet protocol addresses showed that 22-point-nine percent of the attempts were from China, while some 20 percent were traced to the United States.

Eight-point-five percent of the attempted breaches originated in South Korea, followed by Russia, Germany and Brazil.

Rep. Lee said that the steady rise in the hacking attempts against the government implies a growing threat to the national security and personal information of South Koreans, calling for active and thorough cybersecurity measures by the government.