Since North Korea opened a "walled garden" national intranet called “Kwangmyong” in the late 1990s, the North has been maintaining various application systems based on the platform. Isolated from the rest of the world, North Korea has developed and maintained the closed national intranet while keeping tight control over it to thwart possible internal and external cyberattacks.
In the early days of North Korea’s introduction of Kwangmyong, I gathered information on Kwangmyong and did an in-depth analysis of it, referring to North Korean publication “Technology Innovation.” Drawing upon my previous study on Kwangmyong, I intend to take a closer look at the past and present of Kwangmyong’s systemic features and operational methods here. I have learned about where Kwangmyong stands now through the data stored on North Korean tablet computer “Yongheung.”
North Korea’s science and technology information network is divided into four. First, there is a nationwide network set up by the State Academy of Sciences’ central information agency for science and technology in cooperation with agencies of various levels. Second are sector-specific networks set up by various departments and committees under the Cabinet and science and IT institutes under central administrative agencies. Above all, each production department’s technology guidance bureau plays a significant role in collecting and spreading information on science and technology.
Third are regional networks set up by local science and technology institutes operating under city-level agencies; fourth are Local Area Networks (LAN) set up by science and technology information offices of science research institutes and companies. North Korea’s Computer Network Management Act stipulates that the nation’s computer network system breaks down into the aforementioned four and each network is operated by different bodies.
By connecting the servers of the State Academy of Sciences’ central information agency for science and technology to those of the Grand People's Study House (North Korea’ largest central library) with fiber-optic cables, Kwangmyong offers access to both institutions’ vast databases, thereby enabling a nationwide search engine service.
The figure above depicts national computer network Kwangmyong’s framework. Kwangmyong is based in Pyongyang and Pyongsung, where the State Academy of Sciences and the Grand People's Study House are located. Kwangmyong’s local centers are situated in provinces like Nampo, Gaeseong, Sinuiju, Haeju, Sariwon, Wonsan, Hamhung, Chongjin, Kanggye, Hyesan, etc. It is said that the North’s fiber-optic cable penetration reaches even villages as of now.
Terminals used for Kwangmyong are 500 MHz Pentium III computers with 512MB RAM. Servers’ total external memory far exceeds 200Gbytes and stores a database of nearly 3,000 data files. Windows 2000 and Windows NT4.0 are used as operating systems.
Major programs include science and technology information search engine “Kwangmyong,” electronic mail service “Hyesung (comet in English),” electronic bulletin board “Byulmoori,” website search system “Satellite,” etc. Then, Kwangmyong, set up by the State Academy of Sciences’ central information agency for science and technology, connects to local area networks set up by Kim Il-sung University, the Grand People's Study House and North Korea’s Inventions Office via public phone lines and Windows NT4.0 computers serving as routers, thereby putting the entire nation under a single fiber-optic cable network.
Users can sign up for Kwangmyong by using remote procedure call servers each institution is equipped with. Making calls to each LAN server, users can have access to various kinds of science and technology data. The State Academy of Sciences’ central information agency for science and technology is outfitted with network communications systems (e.g. remote procedure call server LAN Rover and Windows NT remote procedure call servers connecting multiplex communication apparatuses) to enable simultaneous access by tens of users.
