South Korean to drop copies of The Interview in North by ballooon
A South Korean activist said that he will launch balloons carrying DVDs of Sony's The Interview toward North Korea to try to break down a personality cult built around dictator Kim Jong-un.
A South Korean activist said that he will launch balloons carrying DVDs of Sony's toward North Korea to try to break down a personality cult built around dictator Kim Jong-un.
The comedy depicting an assassination attempt on Kim is at the center of tension between North Korea and the US, with Washington blaming Pyongyang for crippling hacking attacks on Sony Entertainment. Pyongyang denies that and it has vowed to retaliate for the charges.
Activist Park Sang-hak said he will start dropping 100,000 DVDs and USBs with the movie by balloon in North Korea as early as late January. Park, a North Korean defector, said he's partnering with the US-based non-profit Human Rights Foundation, which is financing the making of the DVDs and USB memory sticks of the movie with the Korean subtitles.
Park said foundation officials plan to visit South Korea on about January 20 to hand over the DVDs and USBs, and that he and the officials will then try to float the first batch of the balloons if weather conditions allow.
"North Korea's absolute leadership will be crumble if the idolisation of leader Kim breaks down," Park said.
If carried out, the move was expected to enrage North Korea, which expressed anger over the movie. In October, the country opened fire at giant balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets floated by South Korean activists, trigging an exchange of gunfire with South Korean troops.
But it is not clear how effective the plan will be, as very few ordinary North Korean citizens own computers or DVD players.
Not everyone supports sending balloons into the North, with liberals and border town residents in South Korea urging the activists to stop.
