Uh-oh. South Korean activists are sending 10,000 copies of Seth Rogen's The Interview into North Korea later this week...
NewsOh lordy. Just when you thought the world had come back from the brink of thermonuclear war over a Seth Rogen movie, the situation may just be about to become enflamed again.
You probably know the story so far. The Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy The Interviewangered the North Korean authorities a lot, to the point where it was described as an "act of war" for its portrayal of Kim Jong-un. Yet after a cyber terrorist attack on Sony Pictures' servers, and the subsequent cancellation of the film's release, it was eventually rolled out in cinemas and across video on demand platforms. And The Interview didn't cause widespread conflict after all. Phew.
However, as you might have guessed, the film isn't welcome in North Korea. Which means that plans for South Korean activists to basically air-drop 10,000 copies of it on DVD into North Korea are not going down very well.
The activists will be sending the DVDs - and 500,000 leaflets - across the border on Thursday, via balloon. According to the North Korea Central News Agency, sending copies of The Interview, as well as the propaganda leaflets, would amount to "the gravest politically-motivated provocation" and "a de facto declaration of war". It also said that the balloons would be shot down without warning by the Korean army.
Furthermore, South Korean residents who live near the border are "recommended to evacuate in advance for their safety" should the balloon launch go ahead.
The relevance of Thursday - the 26th of March - is that it'll mark the fifth anniversary of a South Korean warship being sunk, with the loss of 46 lives.
Fingers crossed this one doesn't escalate, then. Perhaps it'd be wiser to send Team America: World Police DVDs rather than copies of The Interview? That's one film North Korea hasn't declared war over, at least...
