South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Friday appointed an army general to the new post of national cyber-security tsar, tasked with defending against North Korean hacking attacks.

Brigadier General Shin In-Seop, who served as deputy chief of the military's cyber warfare command launched in 2010, took up his new duties immediately, a presidential official said.

The new position is supposed to serve as a "control tower" for combined agency efforts to counter North Korean cyber warfare.

South Korea, one of the world's most wired nations, has blamed North Korean hackers for a series of cyber-attacks on military institutions, banks, government agencies, TV broadcasters and media websites in recent years.

The South's defence ministry believes North Korea runs an elite cyber-warfare unit with up to 6,000 personnel, and regards its ability to launch hacking attacks as a major security threat.