A South Korean activist is reported to be ready to launch balloons carrying DVDs of Sony's The Interview toward North Korea. The comedy depicting an assassination attempt on the country's leader Kim Jong Un is at the center of tension between North Korea and the US, that led Sony to temporarily pull the film from distribution.

Activist Park Sang-hak said he will start dropping 100,000 DVDs and USBs with the movie by balloon in North Korea as early as late January. The Financial Express reports that Park, a North Korean defector, is partnering with the US-based non-profit Human Rights Foundation, which is financing the making of the DVDs and USB memory sticks of the movie with Korean subtitles.

Park said foundation officials plan to visit South Korea around January 20 to hand over the DVDs and USBs, and that he and the officials will then try to float the first batch of the balloons if weather conditions allow.

Hydrogen balloons are a common means of sending anti-regime and religious literature into North Korea, so much so that border town South Korean residents have been urging the activists to stop, accusing them of stirring tension with the North. Indeed, in October, North Korea opened fire at giant balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets floated by South Korean activists, trigging an exchange of gunfire with South Korean troops.

The effectiveness of the plan is unclear as very few ordinary North Korean citizens own computers or DVD players, though illegal ownership is growing.

Park said the ballooning will be done clandestinely, with the pace picking up in March when he expects the wind direction to become more favorable. (Source: The Financial Express).

Story filed 30.12.14