Have you watched The Interview yet? While there are a number of (legal) ways to see it here in the free world, residents of North Korea certainly have no chance of watching their despised dictator be killed on screen.
If only someone could smuggle copies of the movie into North Korea. Could witnessing a depiction of Kim Jong-un being assassinated by two bumbling idiots help North Koreans see that the dictator is merely a man, who could be overthrown?
A man named Park Sang-hak is hoping for just that. He's working with Sony Pictures to produce 100,000 copies of The Interview on DVDs and USB sticks, which he'll then drop into North Korea by air. Park himself escaped from the totalitarian state and works now as an activist for North Korean freedom.
His plan is to send hydrogen-filled balloons carrying the film from the South Korean border in the hopes that the wind will carry them to residents of North Korea. He'll release the balloons slowly, from late January through sometime in March.
It's an interesting idea, and it seems like the kind of thing all of us outside of Korea should support. (There's even an IndieGoGo campaign in place to help finance the airdrop project.) But there are several potential issues standing in its way.
First, this isn't the first time balloons have been used to attempt smuggling anti-regime propaganda into North Korea. The last time it didn't go so well — North Korea opened fire on the balloons, a move that resulted in North and South Korea shooting at each other across the border. That sort of thing tends to be rather dangerous for Korean citizens.
Second, there are precious few North Koreans who will be able to watch the movie, because not very many of them own computers or DVD players. Citizens have to get permission from the government to own a computer, and even if they're allowed to, the purchase price is steep.
Third, North Koreans live under the thumb of Kim Jong-un's government, and know that if they get caught consuming anti-Kim materials, the punishment will be severe. That alone will deter many from going anywhere near The Interview.
All this means that only a very small percentage of residents will ever get the chance to see the movie. But in this sort of cold war, perhaps every victory — no matter how small — is significant.
