You can't go on the internet these days without seeing a picture of James Franco and/or Seth Rogen. Ever since the North Koreans hacked into Sony and threatened retaliation if theaters showed The Interview, the film has sparked controversy across the nation. It's worth pointing out that North Korea denies any role in the hacking, but then again, why would we believe anything they say? North Korea took issue with The Interview several months ago, when details of the film were released to the public. In the film, two bumbling journalists (Rogen and Franco) are tasked with assassinating North Korea's portly basketball-loving Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Un doesn't seem to appreciate Franco and Rogen's sense of humor. To some extent, many of us can relate to that. On the other hand, most of us wouldn't threaten to kill people who find the pair amusing. North Korea (or, in the highly unlikely event that some other group hacked Sony, that group) has no such qualms. Sony's decision to pull the film from theaters was criticized across the board. President Obama lambasted the decision as a huge mistake. For once, Congress was on the same page. Some congressmen even called for the movie to be screened on Capitol Hill. Sony has loosened its stance in the recent days: the film is set to be released tomorrow for a limited run, and there's even been some talk of the film going on YouTube. But this is hardly relevant. What is relevant is our not-quite-good relationship with the tiny Communist dictatorship occupying the northern half of the Korean peninsula.
In the speech where he criticized Sony's response to the threats, President Obama vowed to retaliate appropriately to North Korea's actions. Soon afterwards, the internet in the small nation was cut off. It's possible that this is a mere coincidence, but given the temporal proximity to Obama's statement, the chance of that is low at best. With the exception of the one Texan who recently fled behind the dictatorship's closed borders, most Americans probably want this to be the case. It would certainly give President Obama a helping hand, after one of the roughest years of his presidency. Screwing with North Korea's infrastructure and technology is something we can get behind as a nation. The Tea Party and the far, far left will undoubtedly take issue with whatever Obama does, but that applies to everything Obama does. If the FBI or the CIA is involved in the collapse of North Korea's internet, the vast majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents will be happy. Kim Jong Un could use a taste of his own medicine for once. Even if he didn't launch or order the Sony hack, we can all agree he deserves it.
North Korea, we can all agree, is hardly a humanitarian nation. The notorious line of Kims - stretching from Jong Un through Jong Il to Il Sung - has quite a bit of blood on its hands. George Bush's "Axis of Evil" comment actually applies to the Democratic People's Republic. The Kims spend huge sums of money on luxurious foreign food while their people starve. If it wasn't for the international aid it occasionally receives, North Korea's population would be miniscule. That's the harsh reality of the situation - one third of North Koreans are critically malnourished. You can be jailed for posessing a bible or having the wrong haircut or owning a car. Two hundred thousand civilians live behind the walls of prison camps. If you break a law, your grandparents, parents and children will be severely punished as well. Secret police and informants, reminiscent of the Soviet Union's early days, are everywhere in the nation. And yet marijuana is legal. It's no wonder the rivalry between North and South Korea is so intense. It's worth remembering that South Korea only exists because "UN" forces (I use quotation marks because we all know which member of the UN the bulk of the fighting) chased them out. It's also worth mentioning that North Korea only exists because the bulk of the Chinese Army chased the Americans and South Koreans back towards the current border.
When will the conflict end? When North Korea goes too far. When China decides it wants no more to do with Kim Jong Un, and the rest of the world decides it's had enough of North Korea's garbage. That day will inevitably come. But it won't come because of a James Franco movie. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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