North Korea experienced a major Internet outage on Saturday, June 7.

As reported by Reuters, the outage lasted several hours and cut off connections for the North Korean government website, official news services, and the Air Koryo national airline website.

A cause for the outage has not yet been established, but Reuters reports that it was likely an internal issue as connections via China and Russia were impacted, citing researchers monitoring North Korea's Internet and technology infrastructure including Junade Ali, a UK-based researcher, and Martyn Williams from the Washington-based Stimson Center.

Connectivity began resuming around midday, said Reuters.

Few who live in the Kim Jong-un dictator-led nation are permitted to access the Internet. The majority of people are only able to access a government-established intranet known as Kwangmyong, with only the elite in the government and leadership able to access the global Internet.

The total number of public Internet users in the hermit nation is estimated to be around 100,000, per DataReportal, though accurate data is hard to come by.

Internet access in North Korea is available from Internet service provider Star Joint Venture Co., a joint venture between the North Korean government's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and Thailand-based Loxley Pacific.

The government websites and news outlets shut down on Saturday are often used to publicize propaganda to those outside the country.

In 2022, North Korea suffered an Internet outage after a US-based hacker, P4x, launched retaliatory cyberattacks against the nation, having previously been targeted by the country.

North Korea operates a team of hackers, including a group known as Lazarus, and is considered responsible for many foreign cyberattacks. The country denies any involvement in such activities.