Kim Jong Il, dictator of North Korea loves karaoke but decided not to provide Internet access to its people.
One of the biggest technological black holes on the Internet is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – also known as North Korea.
Ruled by the short, bespectacled dictator Kim Jong Il, North Korea has removed itself from the Internet map years ago. There are no private Internet service providers in North Korea.
Kim Jong Il has totalitarian rule over the citizens of North Korea, so poor that can only consume the equivalent of a chicken every month.
Since 2007, North Korea has been allocated the ccTLD .kp by the IANA – a wasteful allocation as only four .kp domains exist thus far.
With a population of 24 million, North Korea hosts all four of its .kp domains outside of its land; in servers in Germany.
These four .kp domains belonging to North Korea are:
- The Korea Computer Center (Europe) with a message that .kp domain registrations are available
- The official North Korean governmental portal Naenara
- The North Korean domain registry
- A web site about becoming a “friend” of North Korea!
Kim Jong Il is therefore “the man who owns the Internet” in North Korea; a far cry from the legendary uber-domainer Kevin Ham, also known by the same title.
With the recent friction in the relationship between North Korea and South Korea, it is unknown whether these four existing .kp domains will continue to function for much longer.
“The Internets” muahhahaha
You forgot us! How could you leave out 1/5 of the country’s internet?
“North Korea has been allocated the ccTLD .kp by the IANA”
“North Korea hosts all four of its .kp domains outside of its land; in servers in Germany.”
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Lucius,
IANA has allocated North Korea the CCTLD .kp by intentional design.
.kp stands for kaput.
Kaput is an English language rendering of the German word , Kaputt.
IANA left off the last “t” to save on everyone’s bandwidth.
Kaput being a German word also explains why North Korea’s Computer Servers are based in Germany.
Essentially the meaning of “Kaput” or “Kaputt” is something that is non-functional.
i.e.:
“Honey, the toaster oven is kaput”.
“I was going to marry the bitch but she slept with my father, my mother and my 5 brothers
so our relationship is now kaput”.
Great analysis, Tricolorro. In a similar fashion, facebook uses fb – a shorthand for fubar.
Only 4 ? Wow……..