Internet in North Korea
[1] Online services for most individuals and institutions are provided through a free domestic-only network known as Kwangmyong, with access to the global Internet limited to a much smaller group.
[3] Prior to Star JV, Internet access was available only via a satellite link to Germany, or for some government uses through direct connections with China Unicom.
There are longstanding rumors of a secret T1 line which is used to link devices used by the highest officials at much higher speeds and makes them appear with Chinese IP addresses.
[12] Around the same time, on October 9, journalists visiting Pyongyang for the Workers' Party's 65th anniversary celebrations were given access to a press room with Internet connectivity.
[13][14] As of December 2014[update], 1,024 IP addresses were known to exist in North Korea, although The New York Times journalists David E. Sanger and Nicole Perlroth believe that the actual number may be higher.
[18] In fact, as of 2007, many of the North Koreans with access to the global Internet were tasked only with retrieving scientific and technical information, which could then be posted to the national intranet.
The country runs some departments that simply need access to the web to do their jobs, namely propagandists and other media specialists as well as hackers and a small number of technocratic researchers.
[6]According to research by the American cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, North Koreans access the Internet using Apple, Samsung, and Huawei devices and use obfuscation services such as VPNs and proxy servers to circumvent surveillance.
[22][23] Joo Seong-ha, a The Dong-a Ilbo journalist and a North Korean defector, said in 2014 the government's intranet Kwangmyong has been used to limit the general public's global Internet usage, especially in hotels.
[6] In April 2016, North Korea began to block Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites, due to "its concern with the spread of online information".
The police report that these websites encourage hostile attitudes towards South Korea and Western countries, and portray the DPRK in a positive light.
[41] In August 2010, BBC News reported that an agency contracted by the North Korean government has fielded an official DPRK YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter accounts for Uriminzokkiri.
The BBC reported, "In a recent Twitter post, the North Koreans said the current administration in South Korea was 'a prostitute' of the US",[42] though this wording may be a poor translation into English.
Among some of the content on the official website is an image of a US soldier being followed by two missiles, along with various other cartoons, pictures and text, with largely anti-US and anti-South Korean sentiment.
[15] On 23 December, nine hours after the outage, the country regained Internet access,[51] albeit "partial and potentially unstable with other websites still inaccessible.
In October 2017 it was reported that Russian ISP TransTelekom was routing traffic from North Korea as a second internet connection, together with China Unicom.
