[AfrICANN-discuss] ICANN--- Clarification Regarding .KP Country Code Top-Level Domain

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

News Alert

http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-17aug07.htm
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Clarification Regarding .KP Country Code Top-Level Domain

17 August 2007

* MARINA DEL REY, Calif.*: A number of incorrect media reports are
circulating that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) — the manager of the domain name system root zone — is scheduled to
approve ".KP" as the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) at ICANN's meeting in
Los Angeles in October.

At the present time there is no delegated operator for the .KP domain, but
ICANN has received a request to delegate the domain. This request was
discussed by the ICANN Board at its meeting on 14 August 2007. The agenda of
that meeting is a matter of public record, and the minutes will be published
shortly. No decision was made on the delegation during this meeting.

At this time the issues slated for discussion at the board meeting in Los
Angeles have yet to be determined.

As well, media reports have quoted Suh Jae-Chul as a member of the ICANN
board, though this person is not on ICANN's board, nor has been authorized
to speak on ICANN's behalf.

Two-letter country code top-level domains were first introduced in the
mid-1980s to provide local Internet communities within countries with their
own locally-managed Internet domains. From the outset it was deemed that
selecting what is, or is not, an eligible country for such a domain was well
outside the scope of the management of the domain name system root zone. It
was therefore decided a neutral third-party system would be used.

ICANN relies solely on the ISO 3166-1 standard for determining eligible
country codes. This standard is maintained by the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO). "KP" has long been established by ISO as North
Korea's two-letter code in that standard.

The operation of a country's ccTLD is an internal matter for each country
and its local Internet community. In support of this, ICANN is responsible
for delegating authority for the operation of ccTLDs to a specific operator
based upon requests received from the country and its local Internet
community. ICANN's evaluation is focused on verifying the validity of the
request, and ensuring it meets a number of technically-focused criteria.
Apart from this analysis, the selection of both the operator, and the method
of operation of a ccTLD is a matter for countries and local Internet
communities to decide.

The ISO 3166-1 two-letter code elements are available at:
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/index.html

* About ICANN: *

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of
unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes
like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that
help computers reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of
these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global
stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's
ongoing security and stability. ICANN is an internationally organized,
public benefit non-profit company. For more information please visit:
www.icann.org.

*Media Contacts: *

Jason Keenan
Media Adviser, ICANN (USA)
Ph: +1 310 382 4004
E: jason.keenan at icann.org

International: Andrew Robertson
Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson at edelman.com
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