Should U.S. sneak 'The Interview' into North Korea?

[crownvetch]

President Obama has several options at his disposal to retaliate for North Korea's cyberattack on Sony Pictures, ranging from counter-cyberattacks to new sanctions to airdropping DVDs of the offending movie, The Interview, into North Korea, foreign policy experts said.

Obama vowed Friday to respond following the FBI's conclusion that the isolated Asian regime had perpetrated the Sony hack and threats of violence against theaters that show the movie. It is a comedy about a hairbrained CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Sony this week canceled the movie's planned Christmas Day release after major theater chains decided not to show it.


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While Obama declined to say when or how he would respond, analysts offered a list of possibilities.

The most in-your-face response would be to airdrop DVDs of The Interview into the nuclear-armed hermit nation, suggested the former chief of the CIA's North Korea unit.

"A great CIA op would be to have this sent into North Korea along with Team America," said Bruce Klingner, the CIA's former chief North Korea analyst who is now at the Heritage Foundation. Team America: World Police was a 2004 puppet comedy that included a comic representation of Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il.

North Korea has a large black market in DVDs from abroad, which the regime considers a security risk, says Bruce Bechtol, a North Korea analyst at Angelo State University. Many of the DVDs are South Korean soap operas and news shows smuggled in balloons that are released in South Korea and drift into North Korean territory.

"When this movie comes out on DVD just a few of them going across the border into North Korea would go viral," Bechtol said. "That's what Kim Jong Un is worried about. Your own people seeing you in this light is a big concern for you."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un enjoys his Dec. 1 visitNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un enjoys his Dec. 1 visit to an artillery unit at an undisclosed location. (Photo: Korean News Service via, epa)

Other options:

• Re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, Klingner said. President George W. Bush removed the country from the list in 2008 to pave the way for talks on North Korea's nuclear program, but North Korea reneged on its commitments. Klingner said the hack and threats of violence fall under the U.S. definition of terrorism.

• Impose sanctions, especially against North Korean entities and high-ranking individuals involved in the Reconnaissance General Bureau, which conducts clandestine activities and cyber warfare. The U.S. has some sanctions already in place ,but there are still activities that could be blocked. "Their top generals can be sanctioned. Some of those guys travel outside North Korea frequently," Bechtol said.

• Name North Korea a major money-laundering concern for its government's support of counterfeiting activities, Klingner said. That would make it subject to tougher financial restrictions.

• The United States should probe the North Korean cyber environment to better understand its capabilities and vulnerabilities. Then take cyber measures against perpetrators of the Sony attack and other cyber warriors in North Korea, Klingner said.

Like waving a gourmet steak in front of Cujo

[Its A Crystal]

No.

When people do that sort of thing, the regime just cranks things up a notch making it harder for residents to watch the South Korean Soap Operas that they are actually interested in.

[Rebeldoomer]

You can watch this on Youtube now. emotion_awesome

https://www.youtube.com/movie?v=Ed2kSuKqfz0

[Keltoi Samurai]

Y'know, initially, I was in favour of the "Airdrop the DVDs into NK" option, but then I sat back and thought to myself "Self," ( I calls myself "self," y'see ), anyways, I says "Self, do you even know how many people in North Korea have electricity? What makes you think enough of them would have TVs or DVD players to make this amount to anything more than just a billion dollar littering operation?"

Cyberattacks would really border on a direct act of war, too, and that's probably not the wisest course of action, considering fighting a war with NK means being very careful about not antagonising China into taking their side ( which is how they managed to beat us to a standstill in Round 1 ), so we should probably avoid that mess if at all feasible.

Sanctions tend to rile up the tiny leaders of that miniscule country, making them even more wily for a stretch, before descending right back into Business As Usual.

I dunno . . . We should do something, we just need to make sure whatever that thing is actually makes things better, instead of worse.

[azulmagia]

Good lord, no. Don't the North Koreans have enough suffering already without having to watch a Seth Rogen/James Franco movie?

[Sailor Tin Nyanko]

Immediate Issues:

How many NK have a TV + DVD/Blu-Ray?

How many NK know English?

What Region is the DVD/Blu-Ray set to? Different areas on Earth have different Regions their DVD/Blu-Ray players play on. If your DVD player or Blu-Ray does not support the region of the DVD or Blu-Ray then you cannot watch it. The area North Korea is in is not the same Region as the US. Mostly North America is one Region but the rest of the world has several other Regions. I believe this started because different Countries had their Films & TV Shows at different Frame Rates but I cannot be sure. Some Countries went by Frames per Second. Some Countries went by Frames per Minute. (Anime had like 10x as many Frames per Minute then American Animation at some point).


I just noticed the plan to airdrop Videos and knew this was a bad News Source so I didn't read the article.

[Dannithe]

Of course they shouldn't do that! That movie was a horrible idea to begin with and honestly I have no idea why they would even make it in the first place.

[PUSS KING]

What a stupid idea. People are treating Sony like they've made a movie serving as a second swansong for freedom fighters everywhere. It's not, it's a ******** buddy comedy that just uses KJU as a platform. Hell, Seth Rogen's target audience is 95% stoners. If not for all the drama surrounding it it'd get like 55% at best on RT. People have completely lost sight of what's actually happening because they're caught up in the weirdly romanticised story they've built.

Also, I don't think NK citizens will by and large own DVD players.

Or understand English.

Or that it will do anything even if they did.

Like seriously, people think airdropping a stupid movie into a comedy will incite some sort of anti-regime movement? It'll bewilder some very poor people and step up NK hostilities against the south. It will probably lead to a huge governmental crackdown too, which won't be healthy for the innocent NK peasants who will be beaten, killed and served endless three-generation-workcamp punishments in the process.