While I was in North Korea, I basically never used a VPN and rarely had problems with any services. A handful of news sites were blocked (ironically the sites did the blocking and provided a message about sanctions; the North Korean government didn't block anything), and so I needed a VPN for those.

All North Korean internet traffic originates from 175.45.176.0/22. They have no reason to hide (except for the massive amount of cyber crime they originate, where VPNs are used)

> They have no reason to hide (except for the massive amount of cyber crime they originate, where VPNs are used)

And, well, trade sanctions, which is why the parent comment wondered if they used VPNs.

I used to use an Iranian based VPN. Sanctions are almost always implemented by billing address, not by IP address. Geolocation services are crap when you start getting in to third world countries.

Billing addresses are easy to fake.

Ok? I'm sure most e-commerce websites would scoff at the idea of having shoppers mail in a notarized copy of their passport before they can make a purchase.

A passport generally doesn't even indicate where someone lives or has lived.

For most businesses forced to comply, that seems like a feature, not a bug.