Pyongyang’s H-bomb tests make it sound feasible to attack the world

“Potent North Korea carries out a series of attack around the world.”

This is a plot that has been frequently witnessed in pop culture contents of many countries such as movies, games, animations, etc. since 2010. With the news of Pyongyang’s hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) on Wednesday, a possible story content that the North rises as a main enemy based on its nuclear weapon has gained much attention on social network services. In particular, not a few say that this once-impossible-story sounds quite feasible today.

The biggest attention was directed to a game called “Homefront: The Revolution,” which is slated to be in the market early this year. Created by an American developer, the game tells North Korea occupies Pennsylvania. In its previous version of “Homefront (2011),” which sold more than one million globally, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after his father Kim Jong Il died unifies the Korean Peninsula and conquers Japan and Southeast Asia with its nuclear weapons. In game industry such as “Mercenary” where North Korea invades its southern counterpart, “Crysis” and “Sting” whose stories are about the wars with the North, Pyongyang is described as the worst occupier.

The same applies to movies. In the 2013 American movie “Olympus has fallen,” a North Korean terrorist devastates the White House, taking hostage of American president when the highest-level talks are held out of North Korea’s nuclear test. In “Red Dawn,” an American film released in 2012, Pyongyang invades Washington and American teens defeat them. Animations such as “South Park” and “Team America: World Police” describe the North as a nuclear evil.

“Now that North Korea tries to develop even hydrogen bombs, these plots don’t sound as groundless as it did before,” netizens said. “After watching the TV news on Pyongyang’s H-bomb, I played a game where I tried to defend against its attacks. I was really immersed in it as if something was really going to happen,” a company employee said.

It was early 2000 when North Korea was described as a villain in games and movies. In fact, it began in 2002 when former U.S. President George W. Bush called it “axis of evil.” From there, North Korean soldiers have appeared in such movies as “Die Another Day (2002)” and “Stealth (2005).” In all those movies, however, North Korean soldiers were characterized as a small group of villains. As the possibility that the North becomes a nuclear power grows, more movies and games have chosen the reclusive regime as their contents. Analysts reckon that the reason would be that an increasing number of global citizens feel that Pyongyang becomes an actual threat.

“North Korea is taken as a threat to the entire world due to its nuclear weapon. In addition, a series of terrorist attacks have fueled the fear that the North might launch its attacks, too. These are the reason North Korea has become the terror of global citizens in pop culture contents,” culture critic Kim Heon-shik explained.

zozo@donga.com