North and South Korean websites still offline after war anniversary hack attack

Several North and South Korean websites that went offline on a war anniversary remained shut down on Wednesday, a day after what Seoul partly blamed on a hacking attack.

The shutdown appeared to be less severe than one in March, and some government and private sector sites were operating again.

The main page of the presidential Blue House was restored, but websites for the prime minister’s office, the science ministry and South Korea’s spy agency remained offline. The conservative South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo was back online.

North Korea’s national airline, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the North’s official Uriminzokkiri site and Naenara, the country’s state-run internet portal, had been shut down on Tuesday, and all but Air Koryo were operational a few hours later.

Seoul blamed hacking for the shutdown of the South Korean sites, and National Intelligence Service officials said they were investigating what may have shut down the North Korean websites. North Korea has not commented.

The shutdowns occurred on the 63rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War, which both countries commemorated. They also are preparing for the 60th anniversary of the end of the fighting July 27, a day North Koreans call “Victory Day” even though the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

It wasn’t immediately clear what or who was responsible for the shutdowns. Several Twitter users purporting to belong to the Anonymous hackers’ collective claimed they attacked North Korean websites, but they did not respond to attempts by The Associated Press to communicate with them. Shin Hong-soon, an official at South Korea’s science ministry in charge of online security, said the government was not able to confirm whether these hackers were linked to the South Korean attacks.