Some internet services have been restored in
North Korea after an almost unprecedented
internet outage, amid a cyber security row with
the US.
Though there has been no comment from the
authorities in Pyongyang, US experts reported the
restoration.
Some analysts say the country's web access was
cut entirely for a time.
Washington said it would launch a proportional
response to a cyber-attack on Sony Pictures,
which made a comedy about North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un.
Officials would not comment on any US
involvement in the current outages.
Meanwhile, China's permanent representative to
the United Nations has called for all sides to
avoid an escalation of tension on the Korean
Peninsula after the UN security council put the
North's human rights record on its agenda.
Analysis: Stephen Evans, BBC News, Seoul

There is a paradox. North Korea is highly "teched
up" but is denied the worldwide web. Many
people have smart phones, for example, but they
cannot access the web with them.
The authorities take great pains to prevent
citizens from accessing the internet. Recently,
embassies in Pyongyang were told they could not
have wifi networks within the building. It
transpired that demand for neighbouring property
had risen because residents there could get
access to the embassies' wifi.
What North Korea does have is an intranet, its
own internal internet with a lot of state-controlled
news websites disseminating the party line, but
also a cookery website.

Ordinary North Koreans are unlikely to notice the
absence of the internet because they were denied
it anyway. But they might notice the
disappearance of their own online newspapers
and sources of news. And also the cookery
website.

Progressive degradation
Internet services were partially restored after nine
hours and 31 minutes of disruption, cyber security
firm Dyn Research says.

North Korea is highly sensitive to any
perceived disrespect for its leader Kim Jong-
un, centre
The website for the state-run Korean Central
News Agency (KCNA) and Rodong Sinmun
newspaper were back online on Tuesday.
But the recovery looked to be partial and
potentially unstable with other websites still
inaccessible.
Analysts had said technical problems or a cyber-
attack could be to blame.

Doug Madory of Dyn Research said they had seen
a progressive degradation of North Korea's
connectivity to the outside world until the point
at which they were totally offline.
Arbor Networks, an internet technology service,
said it had detected denial-of-service attacks
against North Korea's infrastructure beginning on
Saturday.
Only a small proportion of people have access to
the internet in North Korea, one of the world's
most secretive countries.
North Korea's internet is handled by state-run
company Star Joint Ventures, which in turn is
routed through Chinese telecommunications firm
China Unicom.
Dyn's chief scientist, James Cowie, told the BBC
that if it were indeed an attack, "it would not take
a tremendous effort to carry out. It is one
connection across the border... to overload the
routing infrastructure would probably not require
the efforts of a nation-state, it could be just one
dedicated person".
Film pulled
Last week, the US government said an FBI
investigation had shown that North Korea was
behind a hacking attack on Sony, which led to
unreleased films and private emails being leaked
online. North Korea denied being responsible.
But North Korea also praised the attack on Sony,
and had for months condemned a Sony comedy,
The Interview, which depicts the assassination of
the North Korean leader. Sony eventually
cancelled the cinema release of the film.
Mr Obama had said that the US would respond to
the attack on Sony "in a place and time and
manner that we choose"..

On Monday, state department spokeswoman
Marie Harf said the US would not discuss publicly
"operational details about the possible response
options, or comment on those kind of reports in
any way, except to say that as we implement our
responses, some will be seen, some may not be
seen''.
China and Russia voted against discussing
human rights at the meeting, but were
overruled by other members
The internet disruption came as the UN Security
Council discussed North Korea's human rights for
the first time, despite opposition from China and
Russia.
US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power
dismissed North Korea's demand to launch a
joint investigation with the US into the attack on
Sony, and threats to retaliate if the US refused.
"It is exactly the kind of behaviour we have come
to expect from a regime that threatened to take
'merciless countermeasures' against the US over
a Hollywood comedy, and has no qualms about
holding tens of thousands of people in harrowing
gulags," she said.

North Korean diplomat Kim Song said a decision
on how to respond to the Security Council's
move would be made in Pyongyang. "We totally
reject the decision to bring DPRK [North Korea's]
human rights record to the UN Security Council,"
he told Reuters.


source: http://m.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30584093