Internet access is available in North Korea, but is only permitted with special authorization. It is primarily used for government purposes, and also by foreigners. The country has some broadband infrastructure, including fiber optic links between major institutions. 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.
Service providers and access
Internet access in North Korea is available from Internet service provider Star Joint Venture Co., a joint venture between the North Korean government's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and Thailand-based Loxley Pacific. Star JV took control of North Korea's Internet address allocation on 21 December 2009. 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. Nearly all of North Korea's Internet traffic is routed through China.
Since February 2013, foreigners have been able to access the Internet using the 3G telecommunications network provided by Koryolink.
Permission to access the Internet remains tightly restricted. However, the IT industry has been growing and Internet access is gradually increasing within North Korea. In October 2010, the website of the Korean Central News Agency went live from a web server hosted in North Korea. It is accessible globally on a North Korean IP address , marking the country's first known direct connection to the Internet. Around the same time, on 9 October, journalists visiting Pyongyang for the Workers' Party's 65th anniversary celebrations were given access to a press room with Internet connectivity.
, 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. The total number of Internet users is estimated at no more than a few thousand. People who can access the global Internet without limits are claimed to be high-ranking officials, members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and government ambassadors.
Some access is allowed in North Korea's academic institutions. Professors and graduate students can access the Internet at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology through a computer lab, for instance. Access through this channel is monitored. 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.
Kim Jong-il told a visiting North Korean dignitary in 2002 that he had spent much time on South Korean websites. According to Ofer Gayer, a security researcher of Incapsula, the country's total web traffic footprint has been less than that of the Falkland Islands. 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. Although available in most campuses, the government has "strictly monitored the Internet usage".
Since Apple Inc., Sony, and Microsoft are not allowed to distribute their products to North Korea, third-party companies buy their products and sell them to customers. Very little is known about the electronics industry in North Korea due to the government's isolation policies.
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".
On 19 September 2016, North Korea's nameserver that contains information about all of the ".kp" websites was misconfigured, allowing researchers to access and publish the domain names and some of the file data about the site, including zone information for .kp, co.kp, com.kp, edu.kp, gov.kp, net.kp, org.kp, and rep.kp, revealing that North Korea has only 28 websites facing the Internet. However, the Kwangmyong intranet, available only to North Korea, was estimated to host between 1,000 and 5,500 internal-facing websites as of 2014.
In September 2017, Russian telecommunication company TransTeleCom established direct Internet connection to North Korea, causing China Unicom to no longer be the sole provider of Internet access for North Korea.
It was reported in January 2021 that North Korea was gearing up to upgrade its network from the current 3G to a 4G network.
Government use of the Internet
As of 2018, construction of an Internet Communication Bureau headquarters was underway in Pyongyang.