North Korean Internet Collapses

North Korea’s link to the Internet collapsed today, after first becoming unstable late Friday. The Internet monitors said the country’s networks are under duress, consistent with a distributed denial of service or DDoS attack on their routers, the New York Times reported.

The collapse of North Korean Internet came just days after President Obama pledged a proportional response to the recent attacks on Sony Pictures, which the U.S. has linked to North Korea. Although it was unclear if the U.S. was behind this DDoS attack against North Korea.

The loss of service will affect the country’s elites, state-run media channels and propaganda machine, as well as its cadre of cyberwarriors. Ordinary people have no access to the Internet.

A DDos attack is a form of cybervandalism, a term President Obama used to describe North Korea’s action against Sony. It is temporary, it probably would take hours not days, it imposes some cost, and in the case of North Korea it's limited to the country’s elite users.

File photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visiting his country’s Army Designing Institute in an undated photo released by North Korea (ABC News)

No Evidence of Iran-North Korea Missile Cooperation - Report

Iran’s Press TV, quoting the South Korean Arirang News, today reported that a UN Security Council panel monitoring sanctions against Iran has said in its annual report that it has found no evidence of missile cooperation between Iran and North Korea.

“There is no evidence of technological collaboration between North Korea and Iran in developing a long-range missile,” the report said. (Arriange news/Press TV, 30 June)

Late last year, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported that Iran had dispatched senior defense staff to North Korea to observe the launch of a ballistic missile said to have put a communications satellite into orbit. Iran’s Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi then dismissed the claims as mere “speculation,” adding that Tehran had dispatched nobody to Pyongyang for missile cooperation.

The West suspects North Korea's missile launches are disguised tests of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.

Photo credit: North Korean missile Unha-3, carrying the satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 Unit 2, lifting off from its launching pad in North Pyongan Province on 12 December 2012. (Press TV)

Iran to Export Oil to North Korea

Iran's oil ministry said it was considering exporting oil to North Korea. The official IRNA news agency today quoted Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi as saying talks were under way between Tehran and Pyongyang on oil exports. (IRNA, 20 April)

An oil deal with North Korea will bring the two countries closer together and will add to the volume of Iran’s exports that has been severely cut due to sanctions. 

Iran Denies Missile and Nuclear Cooperation with North Korea

Iran today denied South Korean and Japanese reports that its military personnel and missile experts were in North Korea participating in a planned launch of a long-term rocket and strengthening cooperation in missile and nuclear developments.

“The claim made regarding missile and nuclear cooperation (between Iran and North Korea) is baseless propaganda and they are trying to create fear so they can undermine our relations with others,” said Ramin Mehmanparast, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman. (IRNA, 11 December)

On Monday, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper said a group of Iranian missile experts was in North Korea “offering technical assistance for the planned launch of a rocket which Pyongyang terms a peaceful mission.” (AFP, 11 December)

Earlier this month, Japan’s Kyodo News Agency had quoted a Western diplomatic source as saying Iran had stationed defense personnel in North Korea since October “to strengthen cooperation in missile and nuclear developments.” (AFP, 11 December)