North Korean Internet is Dark and…

Yesterday it was observed that the internet in North Korea was down, here.  According to North Korea Tech, there are only two internet links in and out of North Korea:  a main link through China and a satellite link.  The word specifically used was “all” servers in North Korea were inaccessible.

Today, ITAR-TASS is reporting, with only two lines of text, that North Korean servers are under a massive cyberattack, here.

PYONGYANG, March 13 (Itar-Tass) – Access to the Internet was blocked in North Korea on Wednesday. According to an informed source, Internet resources of the country have come under a powerful hacker attack from abroad.

Who is attacking North Korea?  The obvious answer is among these three: the United States, South Korea and Japan.  I believe the US and South Korea have the capability and the motive.  Perhaps South Korea has a history of attacking North Korea via the internet, but I seriously doubt the US has a history of attacking North Korea via the internet.  The obvious choice then, in my humble opinion, is South Korea.  My gut feeling is this is happening, the goal to blind the North Koreans to as much outside communications as possible.  Perhaps the goal is a preemptive attack against North Korea cyber units, against as much Command and Control and logistics as possible and possibly to sow confusion and discontent in the North Korea military and government.

Why?  North Korea formally stated they have dissolved the 1953 Armistice between South Korea and North Korea, therefore a state of war again technically exists between these two countries that share the same peninsula.  North Korea just completed a test of a miniature nuclear bomb, estimates I have heard put it on a scale close to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Zooming in on the information aspects of this building crisis, a report out of South Korea states that an increasing number of North Korean soldiers are deserting their units, here. This information appears a product of Psychological Operations, at least to me.  The timing is oddly coincidental with the crisis, the fanatical nature of North Korea soldiers also does not jive with that information.  If true, however, this may or may not indicate a genuine deep-seated fear of another war with South Korea, like 1950.  I tend to doubt the report and even if true, I doubt the numbers would be significant enough to lessen North Korea’s combat power counted in human cannon fodder.

Add to this the annual South Korea – US wargames, which the North Koreans once again tried to use as a bargaining chip.  New North Korean leader, new response to the wargames?

According to Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea, one of the world’s foremost experts on North Korea, the chance of an all-out war is 0.0%, in an article published here.

In my opinion, perhaps South Korea is performing an act short of war, in their estimation.  This may well set a precedent, history will be the judge.

Related articles

• South Korea Prepares for Potential Cyberattacks Launched by North Korea (news.softpedia.com)
• N. Korea-based Websites Inaccessible (voanews.com)
• South Korea and US begin military drills as North Korea threatens war – Fox News (americanbulwark.com)
• Serious armed clash highly unlikely, by Andrei Lankov (vtncankor.wordpress.com)
• North Korea Cancels Korean War Peace Treaty, Everyone Looks At Each Other Kinda Scared (nyulocal.com)
• Is war between North and South Korea imminent? (ctvnews.ca)
• South Korea military says ready to strike back if North attacks (Reuters) (newsdaily.com)
• War Games: South Korea, U.S. Begin Annual Military Drills As North Korea Makes New Threats (huffingtonpost.com)