According to the top US military officials in South Korea, a recent hack may have compromised the personal details of thousands of South Korean citizens employed by the US command. The commander of US forces in South Korea brought his apologies a few days ago for the “possible theft” from two databases of sensitive information of South Korean citizens. The allegedly leaked details included names, contact information and work history.

The hack affected around 16,000 current and former employees. Overwhelming majority of them is Korean nationals, as well as people who have sought jobs with the American military in South Korea. In the meantime, no classified military information had been compromised, because the databases were stored on a separate network.

Security experts admit that the South Korean government and local broadcasting and finance industry networks have often been targeted by the hackers. South Korea always blames North Korea, which denies the allegations. Some believe that the damage was done by the hackers who sought to profit from data theft. Representatives of the US forces said that an investigation was under way to find out who was responsible for the attacks.

At the moment, the United States keeps around 28,500 soldiers in the country as a deterrent against the North Korea.