North Korean who smuggled Squid Game on a flash drive will be executed by firing squad

boing
1

Originally published at: North Korean who smuggled Squid Game on a flash drive will be executed by firing squad | Boing Boing

…

5 Likes
2

Bob’s Big Boy’s thugs are so steeped in kneejerk authoritarianism that they couldn’t stop to consider that Squid Game actually supports their regime’s nominally anti-capitalist ideology to the point that it makes life in South Korea look almost as miserable and brutal as life in North Korea. This is despotism at its most idiotic and self-owning.

38 Likes
3

I haven’t actually seen the show, but from what I’ve read I would have thought that NK would use it as propaganda against SK - “See those poor people in the south are so desperate, look at what they are willing to do”.

17 Likes
4

Real-Life squid game, coming to a North Korea near you.

15 Likes
5

This story is very unlikely to be true.

File it along with all the executions of North Koreans who are not dead.

26 Likes
6

But um, is North Korean News a North Korean “news” outlet?

5 Likes
7

No. It’s a website for news about North Korea.

8 Likes
8

This reminds me of a story (likely apocryphal) of 1960s American students going to the Soviet Union and bringing home movies of campus to show to their student hosts, only to be asked to show – again and again – the marvel of the expanse of cars in the student parking lot.

The players in the Squid Game may be eff’ed, but the abundance of wealth in the background is the thing they’re likely worried about.

17 Likes
9

Hmm, thanks. Nothing there though about who funds it, let alone why. :thinking:

3 Likes
10

They charge subscriptions. If you read more than a couple of articles you’ll get paywalled.

2 Likes
11

VoA style…

2 Likes
12

There’s a Korean version of that story.

It’s the 1970s. A South Korean official is driving a North Korean envoy around Seoul. The North Korean looks at the tall new buildings and streets full of traffic.

“I know what you’ve done,” the North Korean says, “You’ve rounded up every car in the country and brought it to Seoul to make the city look prosperous.”

“All right, you’ve rumbled us,” the South Korean replies, “But I have to tell you, moving all the buildings to Seoul was much harder.”

26 Likes
13

Unnamed individual source.

3 Likes
14

All right, you’ve rumbled us,” the South Korean replies, “But I have to tell you, moving all the buildings to Seoul was much harder.”

And then the North Korean replied, “But I imagine U.S. funding and military assistance made moving them much easier.”

5 Likes
15

The Radio Free Asia report relies on anonymous sources. The NKNews article quotes multiple named individuals giving their opinions on whether the story is plausible.

2 Likes
16

People should start tying them to balloons and freeing them from the south when the wind cooperates. By the thousands.

7 Likes
17

While I certainly wouldn’t say North Korea is a great place, it is somewhat amusing to me how we quickly (and rightly) don’t quote from Newsmax, OANN, or Fox News with any veracity here, but take their South Korean counterparts (and even more right leaning than those three general US sponsored Asian “Radio Free” stations) as gospel.

5 Likes
18

This is CIA propaganda.

Literal fake news.

2 Likes
19

1 Like
20

Not CIA as such, but to be taken with a grain of salt.
It’s not like they’re above producing propaganda.

13 Likes