naval superiority. Most allied plans do not assume that North Korea could successfully consolidate gains around Seoul or breaks along the Demilitarized Zone. A paper in the Strategic Studies Quarterly (SSQ) cites several reasons why China would not side with North Korea if North Korea initiated an unprovoked attack on South Korea without prior Chinese approval: today's China has no agenda to promote their political ideology, and economic progress would be harmed from a prolonged war. This analysis does not discuss regime anarchy, political upheavals, or any other circumstance which would involve humanitarian crises in North Korea. Espionage In December 2009, South Korean media reported that North Korean hackers may have stolen secret information from OPLAN 5027 after a South Korean officer used an unsecured USB memory stick on his work computer, violating security regulations. In April 2017, Korean media reported that the Defense Security Command and the National Intelligence Service concluded that somewhere in 2016 the Operation Plan 5027 was exposed to hackers, likely North Koreans via Shenyang, China. The ministry is considering sanctions for those personnel responsible for the security breach. See also OPLAN 5029 Military of North Korea Military of South Korea Korean reunification Notes External links OPLAN 5027 Major Theater War - West U.S. speeds attack plans for North Korea Colin Robinson, Standoff with North Korea, Centre for Defense Information, 2002. South Korea–United States relations United States Department of Defense plans