China is key to North Korean Internet, but maybe not hackers

A request to the Chinese government by U.S. diplomats to help crack down on North Korean hacking underlines the important role the country plays in keeping the dictatorship online.

North Korea relies on China for Internet connectivity, partially due to long-standing ties between the two nations and partly because it has few options. North Korea borders just three countries: South Korea, with which it is still technically at war, Russia and China. The Chinese Internet is well developed and the Russian border is far from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, making China a good choice.

A connection from China Unicom into the country first appeared in late 2010. Until then, North Korea had no full-time connection to the Internet—just an email service that relayed messages every hour or so.

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