Internet access resumed in DPRK after temporary suspension

PYONGYANG - Internet access resumed in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday morning, after a few hours of outage that came amid bickering between the United States and the Asian country over an earlier cyber attack on Sony Pictures.

Problems with the Internet access started to emerge on Sunday, with a handful of websites unable to be reached. On Monday afternoon, Internet connections were lost in parts of Capital City Pyongyang, and since around 1:00 am Tuesday morning, the Internet access has completely broken down including 3G networks on mobile phones.

However, by around 10:50 am the Internet access on computers and 3G networks have gone back to normal operation.

A staff member at the Internet management office told Xinhua Monday that the suspension was caused by overload operation, denying that the network had been hacked.

The US-based Sony Pictures Entertainment was cyber attacked in late November, which caused huge damage to the underlying system of the corporate and prompted the company to cancel the Christmas Day release of its comedy movie entitled "The Interview, " which depicts an assassination attempt on DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.

After the Federal Bureau of Investigation claimed its investigation found "enough information" to conclude that the DPRK was "responsible for" the attack, US President Barack Obama said Friday that his government will "respond proportionally" to the cyber attack, for which he pointed the finger at the DPRK.

On Saturday the DPRK rejected the US accusation and proposed a joint investigation with the United States.

No official comments have been made on the DPRK side regarding the temporary suspension of Internet use.