UDN

UDN Censorship in China and North Korea: Technical Blocking and Access Methods

What UDN Is

UDN (United Daily News) is Taiwan's largest newspaper by circulation, launched in 1951 by the United Daily News Group. The parent company, United Morning Post Group, operates multiple media properties across Taiwan. UDN maintains a substantial digital presence through its website and mobile applications, serving millions of daily readers in Taiwan and diaspora communities. The outlet publishes general news, business, politics, and investigative journalism, with particular strength in cross-strait reporting.

Why It's Censored

In mainland China, UDN faces systematic blocking under the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) regulatory framework and the 2016 Cybersecurity Law. Beijing classifies UDN's coverage of Hong Kong protests, Tibetan autonomy issues, and Taiwan political independence movements as state-separatist content. The Chinese government has explicitly targeted Taiwan-based news outlets since 2019, viewing independent Taiwanese media as vehicles for political messaging counter to the "One China" narrative. UDN's 2020 coverage of Hongkongers fleeing to Taiwan and its reporting on the 2024 Taiwan presidential election triggered renewed blocking intensity.

In North Korea, blocking stems from the regime's total information control doctrine under the State Security Department. UDN reaches North Korean defectors and diaspora via circumvention tools, making it a target for suppression. The regime blocks all foreign news outlets without exception; UDN carries no specific regulatory designation but is treated identically to international services like Reuters and BBC.

Technical Blocking Methods

In China, UDN blocking employs layered mechanisms. DNS filtering through state-controlled resolvers redirects udn.com queries to null responses or localized content pages. IP-level blocking targets UDN's primary and secondary servers; network operators receive standing orders to drop packets to those addresses. Deep packet inspection (DPI) monitors HTTPS traffic, analyzing SNI (Server Name Indication) headers to identify UDN access attempts even when users employ unencrypted DNS queries. This multi-layer approach makes simple workarounds ineffective.

North Korean blocking is less technically sophisticated but more absolute—state telecommunications monopoly (Star JV and Koryolink) physically prohibits international routing to UDN infrastructure, with no DNS-level nuance required. Access requires crossing the border or using satellite internet.

User Workarounds

Users in China employ DNS over HTTPS (DoH) and DNS over TLS (DoT) to bypass DNS filtering, routing queries through non-Chinese resolvers. Some users configure custom recursive resolvers or use public DNS services from jurisdictions outside CAC authority. VPN-based access remains technically viable but faces detection risks under China's VPN identification protocols, which flag encrypted tunnels to known circumvention endpoints. Users combine VPN access with obfuscated protocols to mask connection metadata.

Alternatives

The Taiwan News publishes similar English-language coverage of Taiwan politics and cross-strait relations. It faces identical blocking in China but maintains mirror sites and Tor access points. Voice of Taiwan (VOT) provides Chinese-language news with comparable editorial independence; it is also blocked in mainland China but less heavily fingerprinted than UDN. International outlets like Reuters and AP News offer factual alternative sourcing, though with less granular Taiwan-specific reporting.

Outlook

Censorship of UDN is intensifying rather than easing. Following the 2024 Taiwan election, Beijing expanded blocking to additional UDN domains and subsidiary properties. Technical sophistication of DPI filtering improved measurably between 2022 and 2024. No policy shifts suggest near-term relief. North Korean restrictions remain static—absolute but unchanging. For researchers and diaspora communities, long-term reliance on circumvention tools appears necessary absent geopolitical reorientation.