North Korea’s internet infrastructure experienced a significant outage on Saturday, June 7, 2025, with the country’s entire internet infrastructure not registering on systems that monitor global internet activity. According to Junade Ali, a UK-based researcher who monitors the North Korean internet, “A major outage is currently occurring on North Korea’s internet – affecting all routes whether they come in via China or Russia”.
The outage affected several key government websites, including the Foreign Ministry and official news sources like the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA). These sites were inaccessible on Saturday morning, indicating the extent of the disruption. Email services were also affected, with North Korea’s entire internet infrastructure not showing up on systems that can monitor internet activities.
While the exact cause of the outage remains unclear, researchers suggest it may be internal rather than a cyberattack, as connections via China and Russia were affected. Ali noted that it’s “hard to say if this is intentional or accidental – but seems like this is internal rather than an attack”.
North Korea has one of the world’s most strictly controlled internet systems, including access to any form of online communication. 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.
In previous years, North Korea has experienced large internet outages suspected as being caused by cyberattacks. The country’s internet infrastructure is highly monitored, and citizens are offered a curated intranet known as Kwangmyong, while global internet access is strictly limited.