China news report: North Korea hit with another Internet outage

North Korea's Internet and 3G mobile networks were paralyzed again on Saturday evening, China's official Xinhua news agency reported. The North Korean government blamed the United States for systemic instability in the country's networks.

North Korea's main Internet sites had suffered intermittent disruptions earlier in the week, including a complete outage of nearly nine hours, before links were largely restored Tuesday.

The National Defense Commission, the North's ruling body, chaired by state leader Kim Jong Un, issued a statement Saturday dismissing U.S. denials of involvement in North Korea's Internet outages.

"The United States, with its large physical size and oblivious to the shame of playing hide and seek as children with runny noses would, has begun disrupting the Internet operations of the main media outlets of our republic," it said.

In a separate commentary, the North denied any role in cyber attacks on South Korea's nuclear power plant operator, calling the suggestion that it had done so part of a "smear campaign" by unpopular South Korean leaders.

A South Korean official investigating this week’s attacks, which led to leaks of internal data from Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, said Seoul was not ruling out North Korean involvement.

"The South Korean puppet authorities are working hard to link this case with (us), though the truth about it has not been probed," Minju Joson, the official publication of the North's cabinet, said in a commentary carried by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North's official news media outlet.

The North Korean government also said U.S. President Barack Obama was responsible for Sony's belated decision to release the action comedy "The Interview," which depicts a plot to assassinate Kim.

 Reuters