South Korean police say they have arrested five people suspected of working with North Korean hackers who stole millions of dollars from South Korean online gaming sites.

The five suspects were recruited by a South Korean crime organization to work in China alongside more than 30 hackers from North Korea. The hackers broke into the gaming sites and stole the users' personal information, which was used to create virtual players. Those identities would then be sold to actual online gamers.

Police say the North Korean hackers were graduates of the isolated regime's elite universities. They funneled the money they made from the scheme back to Pyongyang.

Seoul says the North has carried out cyberattacks against the South in recent years, including an attack on a banking network run by an agricultural cooperative in April.

North Korea calls the accusation a fabrication aimed at perpetuating North-South political tensions.