Access Disruption Again on Major North Korean Sites Including Foreign Ministry and Rodong Sinmun... Restored Around 3 PM

On the 26th, North Korea's Entire Internet Cut Off Due to Suspected DDoS Attack

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Access disruptions occurred again on major North Korean institutional websites but were restored to normal around 3 p.m.

On the morning of the 31st, North Korean websites such as the Workers' Party organ Rodong Sinmun, Korean Central News Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Cabinet organ Minju Choson were either completely inaccessible or experienced long wait times.

The access disruptions were fully restored around 3 p.m.

Earlier, on the 26th, North Korea experienced an internet outage lasting about six hours due to a suspected denial-of-service (DDoS) cyberattack.

Regarding this, British security researcher Junard Ali, an expert on North Korean internet, explained, "It was an unusual case where not just a few specific servers but the entire North Korean internet went offline due to what appeared to be a DDoS cyberattack."

However, unlike a few days ago, the access on this day was not at a complete 'blackout' level. This raised the possibility that the effects of the cyberattack had not yet fully recovered or that additional attacks had occurred.

According to the "Digital 2020 Global Overview" report released by international data analysis firm Visual Capitalist, North Korea is the only country among 230 nations worldwide that prohibits its residents from using the internet.

The report explained that 100% of North Korea's approximately 25.72 million residents cannot access the internet and instead use the intranet called "Kwangmyong," which is only available within North Korea, ranking it the lowest among surveyed countries.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.