North Korean Defector to Airdrop 100,000 DVDs and USB sticks with copies of The Interview into North - Polidicks

[IMG]http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--T9xhukOM--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/jztptyov7pjoljjvuluh.jpg[/IMG] [QUOTE]A well-known North Korean defector has announced that he will launch 100,000 DVDs and USB sticks with copies of [I]The Interview[/I] as part of his regularly scheduled balloon launches into the Hermit Kingdom. Sony Pictures pulled the theatrical release of the film in the wake of [URL="http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/12/state-sponsored-or-not-sony-pictures-malware-bomb-used-slapdash-code/"]hacks against its corporate networks[/URL].In an interview with the [URL="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/south-korean-drop-sony-film-north-balloon-27917197"]Associated Press[/URL] on Wednesday, Park Sang-hak said that his next launch is planned for late January and will be in partnership with the Human Rights Foundation, which did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment. "North Korea's absolute leadership will crumble if the idolization of leader Kim breaks down," Park told the AP, which noted that the dispatched versions will have Korean subtitles. Normally, each balloon is laden with USB sticks with Wikipedia entries, DVDs of popular TV shows, anti-government leaflets, and even single American dollar bills. (The last is included so starving North Koreans can buy rice on the black market.) While the balloons typically make it over the border by only a few kilometers or so (often dropping inside the Demilitarized Zone), sometimes they can land as far away as Pyongyang, about 125 miles from the border.[URL="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/02/north-korean-defector-fights-pyongyang-with-thumbdrive-laden-balloons/"]Ars interviewed Park[/URL] in San Francisco in February 2014, where he said that launching 10 of the long, thin, translucent, 36-foot-long (12-meter) balloons costs $5,000. "I believe that if we can get 100 times more balloons, then we will make [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong Un paranoid—sending more and more balloons to North Korea is more effective than sending a bomb on North Korea," Park said at the time. "The thing is that if South Korea or the United States Air Force dropped a bomb, there's a way that [North Korea] would react to it, but the thing is with leaflets there's no way to react."[/QUOTE] [url]http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/north-korean-defector-to-airdrop-dvd-usb-copies-of-the-interview/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+All+content%29[/url]

Shouldn't he be dropping VHS's though?

This will be awesome.

We all joked about this. Now it's actually happening.

Provided most North Korean citizens have computers and dvd-players. The common argument is that most North Koreans live quite frugally. The last reports suggested a 'television' was uncommon. Eathier we're being lied too, or it's indeed true that North Korea's infrastructure is perhaps more than World Leaders let on. Not to suggest North Korea is a healthy state, but rather it's definitly possible the common household has more than a television. I've heard of NK Sailors having computers and smartphones in their homecountry. I wouldn't discount it.

[QUOTE=Fatfatfatty;46835567]Shouldn't he be dropping VHS's though?[/QUOTE] I think cloth like the Bayeux Tapestry would be more appropriate

If this actually results in some kind of change that would be pretty funny.

This is fucking dangerous considering anyone even caught picking up these DVD's or USB sticks would be shot on sight

[QUOTE=Hat-Wearing Man;46835599]If this actually results in some kind of change that would be pretty funny.[/QUOTE] I don't know dude, a hundred thousand usb sticks and DVDs falling out of the sky is going to be some change.

It is resulting in change.

Having seen the movie, I hope the citizens won't be too confused by the total irrelevance to anything related to them in the first parts of the movie and turn it off. They really need to get to the end to actually see what they need to see.

Seth Rogen will go down in history as the man who spearheaded the movement against the Kim dynasty.

So much of the movie will not make sense to them, but it's better than nothing I guess?

[QUOTE=NixNax123;46835629]Having seen the movie, I hope the citizens won't be too confused by the total irrelevance to anything related to them in the first parts of the movie and turn it off. They really need to get to the end to actually see what they need to see.[/QUOTE] Yeah, they might end up thinking America is just a horrible country full of idiots if they turn it off after the first part.

If the hackers were actually from NK (I doubt it) then hacking sony into not releasing the movie is gonna backfire p hard

[QUOTE=Suff;46835575]Provided most North Korean citizens have computers and dvd-players. The common argument is that most North Koreans live quite frugally. The last reports suggested a 'television' was uncommon. Eathier we're being lied too, or it's indeed true that North Korea's infrastructure is perhaps more than World Leaders let on. Not to suggest North Korea is a healthy state, but rather it's definitly possible the common household has more than a television. I've heard of NK Sailors having computers and smartphones in their homecountry. I wouldn't discount it.[/QUOTE] This should give a little insight into the current state of technology in the DPRK. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuxlLLeKZZ8[/media]

I'm slightly impressed that they subtitled the movie in like what, a week or something? It might sound like a lot of time to do something like that, but fucking with timecodes etc. is about the most painful fucking thing you can ever do.

[QUOTE=Suff;46835575]Provided most North Korean citizens have computers and dvd-players. The common argument is that most North Koreans live quite frugally. The last reports suggested a 'television' was uncommon. Eathier we're being lied too, or it's indeed true that North Korea's infrastructure is perhaps more than World Leaders let on. Not to suggest North Korea is a healthy state, but rather it's definitly possible the common household has more than a television. I've heard of NK Sailors having computers and smartphones in their homecountry. I wouldn't discount it.[/QUOTE] community is very important in north korea, and while TVs are still rare among the general populace many people are exposed to them since they visit their neighbors to to watch it. it's estimated that half of north koreans have seen television shows or movies from the outside world [editline]1st January 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=nikomo;46835734]I'm slightly impressed that they subtitled the movie in like what, a week or something? It might sound like a lot of time to do something like that, but fucking with timecodes etc. is about the most painful fucking thing you can ever do.[/QUOTE] if people can make subs for torrents in a matter of hours, I'm sure an actual organization can get it done not to mention they might just be official subs from Sony

that surely won't get anyone killed

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;46835607]This is fucking dangerous considering anyone even caught picking up these DVD's or USB sticks would be shot on sight[/QUOTE] As opposed to the other things they airdrop?

[QUOTE=Smooth Jazz;46835673]Yeah, they might end up thinking America is just a horrible country full of idiots if they turn it off after the first part.[/QUOTE] It may be entertainment for them to see how much of a stupid fat ass America is and continue watching.

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;46835607]This is fucking dangerous considering anyone even caught picking up these DVD's or USB sticks would be shot on sight[/QUOTE] This happens all the time, this movie has just made the West more aware of a black market system that has been thriving and growing exponentially in DPRK for years now. If Jong-un hasn't cracked down hard over the tv show "On my way to meet you", which is a South Korean tv show that's hosted by North Korean defectors who deconstruct North Korean propoganda, then I doubt he will over this.

[QUOTE=Colteh;46835691]If the hackers were actually from NK (I doubt it) then hacking sony into not releasing the movie is gonna backfire p hard[/QUOTE] Streisand effect.

I can imagine the NK government retaliating by having giant fans blow the balloons away.

Should be copies of Team America instead. Rally around a movie that isn't shitty.

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;46836684]Should be copies of Team America instead. Rally around a movie that isn't shitty.[/QUOTE] Should be both movies

Come on let's be realistic. Knowing North Korea, the border guards will most likely collect the stuff for themselves and sell it off on the black market.

This is just immature, and further fuels the hate that North Korea has for the west. People should think twice before they do stuff like this.

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;46836684]Should be copies of Team America instead. Rally around a movie that isn't shitty.[/QUOTE] It isn't about the film itself it's about the message it brings, the message that Kim Jong Un is a knob.

[QUOTE=Complifused;46835584]I think cloth like the Bayeux Tapestry would be more appropriate[/QUOTE] why not even cave drawings? after they accidentally nuke themselves back to the stone age that is...