South Korea to drop Sony film with balloons on North Korea

Seoul, South Korea: A South Korean activist on said Wednesday 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. 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 has vowed to retaliate.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 is 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 Korean subtitles.

Park said foundation officials plan to visit South Korea around January 20 to hand over the DVDs and the 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 crumble if the idolisation of leader Kim breaks down,” Park said. If carried out, the move is 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 across the border 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 only a small number of ordinary North Korean citizens are believed to own computers or DVD players. Many North Koreans would not probably risk watching the movie as they know they would get into trouble if caught.