South Korea says rival North Korea has a 6000-member cyber army dedicated to disrupting the South's military and government.
That figure is a dramatic increase from an earlier estimate of 3000 such specialists.
Without elaborating, Seoul's Defence Ministry also said in a report that North Korea may also have gained the ability to strike the US mainland because of its progress in missile technology demonstrated in recent long-range missile tests.
It also said North Korea is advancing in efforts to miniaturise nuclear warheads to mount on such missiles.
There is considerable mystery about the state of North Korea's opaque nuclear and missile programs, which it has persisted in pursuing for decades despite widespread domestic poverty and heavy international sanctions and criticism.
North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006, and experts believe it has a handful of crude nuclear bombs. Many outside observers speculate that it has not mastered the technology to make the bombs small enough to put on long-range missiles, although some say it may be able to arm shorter-range missiles with warheads.
The South Korean Defence Ministry report said North Korea's 6000 cyber warriors are dedicated to "paralysing the South psychologically and materially" and have been conducting cyber attacks to disrupt the South's military operations and main government systems. It didn't describe how it made its assessments.
The United States has accused North Korea of a cyber attack on Sony Pictures over a movie depicting the fictional assassination of the North's leader, Kim Jong Un. Washington has slapped sanctions on government officials and North Korea's defence industry.
There are doubts in the cyber community, however, and North Korea has denied any involvement in the breach of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files.
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