`No classified information accessed by attackers`

No classified information appears to have been retrieved from South Korea`s defense ministry amid wide-ranging cyber attacks on the government, an official said, according to Yonhap News.

"No evidence has been found to suggest that attackers tried to breach the firewall" guarding the internal network used by the Ministry of National Defense, Choi In-jong, an information protection official, said.

The attacks, which Choi said were first detected shortly past 6:50 p.m. Tuesday evening, have concentrated on the external network that services the ministry`s public relations Web sites.

"No classified information is kept on the external network," Choi said, adding that the ministry is experiencing no difficulties in handling its routine tasks.

The so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have hit dozens of Internet sites, including over 10 South Koreans ones.