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UPI
15-07-2025
- Business
- UPI
Direct flights between Pyongyang and Moscow to begin this month
SEOUL, July 15 (UPI) -- North Korea and Russia will begin operating direct flight service linking their capital cities of Pyongyang and Moscow later this month, Russia's Transport Ministry announced. Nordwind Airlines, a Russian budget carrier, will begin direct flights between the two cities on July 27, the ministry said Monday night on its Telegram channel. Travel time will be about eight hours. "For the first time, the capitals of Russia and the DPRK will be connected by direct flights," the ministry said, using the official acronym for North Korea. "Further flights will be operated once a month -- to create sustainable demand and load flights," the ministry added. Currently, the only direct flights between the two countries are operated by North Korea's Air Koryo, connecting Pyongyang with Vladivostok in Russia's Far East. The announcement comes amid growing military and economic ties between Russia and North Korea, highlighted by Pyongyang supplying troops and weapons to Moscow for its war against Ukraine. North Korea has gradually begun opening up to international tourism after sealing its borders at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020. So far, foreign visitors have come almost exclusively from Russia. Russian travelers were the first to return to North Korea post-COVID on the Pyongyang-Vladivostok Air Koryo route early last year. Direct rail service between Pyongyang and Moscow also resumed in June after a five-year suspension. Last week, the North welcomed around 10 Russian guests -- including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov -- to its sprawling new beach resort on the east coast, Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday. The Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist area runs along 2.5 miles of beachfront and has a capacity for up to 20,000 guests. At a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called the completion of the resort one of the country's "greatest successes this year" and said it would "play a leading role in establishing the tourist culture of the DPRK." Launched in 2014, the Wonsan project was initially slated to open in April 2019 but faced numerous setbacks, including international sanctions on materials and COVID-19 pandemic closures. During his visit to Wonsan last week, Lavrov said that Russia also plans to restore maritime passenger routes between the two countries. "Our Korean friends have expressed interest in having more Russians at the wonderful resort of Wonsan and other resorts in the DPRK," Lavrov said at a press conference. "I have no doubt that this will happen."
The Star
07-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Experts: Major web outage came from within
The North's Internet was hit by a major outage that lasted several hours, knocking off connection to government websites and official news services online and severing the reclusive country from cyberspace. It was not clear what caused the outage but it may have been internal rather than a cyberattack, as connections via China and Russia were affected, said researchers who monitor North Korea's Internet and technology infrastructure. North Korea's main official news services, its Foreign Ministry, and the Air Koryo national airline were among websites inaccessible yesterday, before they started coming back slowly around midday. North Korea's entire Internet infrastructure was not showing up on systems that can monitor Internet activities, and email services were also affected, Junade Ali, a UK-based researcher who monitors the North Korean Internet, said earlier. 'Hard to say if this is intentional or accidental – but seems like this is internal rather than an attack.' Officials at South Korea's cyberterror response centre, a police division that monitors North Korea's cyberactivities, could not be reached for comment. Martyn Williams, who specialises in North Korea's technology and infrastructure at the Washington-based Stimson Center, also said the cause appeared to be internal as the Chinese and Russian connections were not working. — Reuters
GMA Network
07-06-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
North Korea hit by major internet outage, likely due to internal cause
SEOUL - North Korea's internet was hit by a major outage that lasted several hours on Saturday, knocking off connection to government web sites and official news services online and severing the reclusive country from cyberspace. It was not clear what caused the outage but it may have been internal rather than a cyberattack, as connections via China and Russia were affected, said researchers who monitor North Korea's internet and technology infrastructure. North Korea's main official news services, its Foreign Ministry, and the Air Koryo national airline were among websites inaccessible on Saturday, before they started coming back slowly around midday according to checks by Reuters. North Korea's entire internet infrastructure was not showing up on systems that can monitor internet activities, and email services were also affected, Junade Ali, a U.K.-based researcher who monitors the North Korean internet, said earlier. "Hard to say if this is intentional or accidental - but seems like this is internal rather than an attack." Officials at South Korea's cyber terror response center, a police division that monitors North Korea's cyber activities, could not be reached for comment. Martyn Williams, who specializes in North Korea's technology and infrastructure at the Washington-based Stimson Center, also said the cause appeared to be internal as the Chinese and Russian connections were not working. North Korea has one of the world's most strictly controlled internet systems, including access to any form of online communication. The general public has access only to an intranet set up by the government and that is not connected to the wider global network. An elite few in the government and leadership are allowed open internet access, and government and news websites often serve up propaganda for outside audiences. North Korea has in previous years experienced large internet outages suspected as being caused by cyberattacks. The country operates elite teams of hackers, including a group known as Lazarus run by the government intelligence apparatus, that are blamed for attacks against foreign institutions and companies and more recently for theft and the laundering of cryptocurrencies. North Korea denies involvement in hacking, crypto thefts and other cybercrime. — Reuters
Business Recorder
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
North Korea hit by major internet outage, likely due to internal cause
SEOUL: North Korea's internet was hit by a major outage that lasted several hours on Saturday, knocking off connection to government web sites and official news services online and severing the reclusive country from cyberspace. It was not clear what caused the outage but it may have been internal rather than a cyberattack, as connections via China and Russia were affected, said researchers who monitor North Korea's internet and technology infrastructure. North Korea's main official news services, its Foreign Ministry, and the Air Koryo national airline were among websites inaccessible on Saturday, before they started coming back slowly around midday according to checks by Reuters. North Korea's entire internet infrastructure was not showing up on systems that can monitor internet activities, and email services were also affected, Junade Ali, a U.K.-based researcher who monitors the North Korean internet, said earlier. 'Hard to say if this is intentional or accidental - but seems like this is internal rather than an attack.' North Korea says military ties with Russia to ensure 'peace' Officials at South Korea's cyber terror response centre, a police division that monitors North Korea's cyber activities, could not be reached for comment. Martyn Williams, who specializes in North Korea's technology and infrastructure at the Washington-based Stimson Center, also said the cause appeared to be internal as the Chinese and Russian connections were not working. North Korea has one of the world's most strictly controlled internet systems, including access to any form of online communication. The general public has access only to an intranet set up by the government and that is not connected to the wider global network. An elite few in the government and leadership are allowed open internet access, and government and news websites often serve up propaganda for outside audiences. North Korea has in previous years experienced large internet outages suspected as being caused by cyberattacks. The country operates elite teams of hackers, including a group known as Lazarus run by the government intelligence apparatus, that are blamed for attacks against foreign institutions and companies and more recently for theft and the laundering of cryptocurrencies. North Korea denies involvement in hacking, crypto thefts and other cybercrime.
India Today
07-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
North Korea hit by major internet outage, key websites, services impacted
North Korea's internet was hit by a major outage that lasted several hours on Saturday, knocking off connections to government websites and official news services online and severing the reclusive country from was not clear what caused the outage but it may have been internal rather than a cyberattack, as connections via China and Russia were affected, said researchers who monitor North Korea's internet and technology Korea's main official news services, its Foreign Ministry, and the Air Koryo national airline were among websites inaccessible on Saturday, before they started coming back slowly around midday according to checks by Reuters. North Korea's entire internet infrastructure was not showing up on systems that can monitor internet activities, and email services were also affected, Junade Ali, a UK.-based researcher who monitors the North Korean internet, said earlier."Hard to say if this is intentional or accidental - but it seems like this is internal rather than an attack."Officials at South Korea's cyber terror response centre, a police division that monitors North Korea's cyber activities, could not be reached for Williams, who specialises in North Korea's technology and infrastructure at the Washington-based Stimson Centre, also said the cause appeared to be internal as the Chinese and Russian connections were not Korea has one of the world's most strictly controlled internet systems, including access to any form of online communication. The general public has access only to an intranet set up by the government and that is not connected to the wider global elite few in the government and leadership are allowed open internet access, and government and news websites often serve up propaganda for outside Korea has in previous years experienced large internet outages suspected as being caused by country operates elite teams of hackers, including a group known as Lazarus run by the government intelligence apparatus, that are blamed for attacks against foreign institutions and companies and more recently for theft and the laundering of Korea denies involvement in hacking, crypto thefts and other Reel IN THIS STORY#North Korea#Kim Jong-un
