James Franco, center, as Dave, and Seth Rogen, right, as Aaron, in Columbia Pictures' "The Interview." ( Ed Araquel/Columbia Pictures, Sony )
SEOUL, South Korea — The story of the hack attack on Sony Pictures that Washington is blaming on North Korea, with both countries trading threats, is a best-seller in the U.S. media. But in South Korea, it’s just a variation on a frequent plot that most people are meeting with a shrug.
Pyongyang’s complaints about the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy “The Interview,” which Sony decided to pull a week before its scheduled Christmas release, are seen as little more than the usual bluster from North Korea, which has been vowing for two decades to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire.”
“South Koreans seem to think that this is just a cry of wolf,” said Kim Joon Hyung, an international politics professor at Handong Global University in Pohang. “They think it’s the same old story, with North Korea barking like a dog with its lying and threatening.”
The film depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. After coming under attack by a hacker group calling itself Guardians of Peace in recent weeks, Sony dropped the movie after the group made threats against theaters that planned to show it.
The decision prompted a backlash from both Republicans and Democrats, who said it impedes artistic freedom and that fear of attacks from foreign countries could lead to censorship of journalism and entertainment.
In contrast to the United States, where federal investigators have linked North Korea to the hack against Sony, South Koreans also are paying little attention to the Sony case and generally view the movie as a joke, Kim Joon Hyung said.
“People have a sense of fatigue now about North Korea’s behavior,” Kim said.
South Korea already has suffered hack attacks — blamed on North Korea — on banks, media and government web sites, so the concept isn’t new here. And Sony hadn’t planned to show the film in South Korea, where headlines have been buzzing with the “nut gate” and “memogate” scandals, along with the dismemberment of a North Korea-linked political party.
Former Korean Air Lines Vice President Cho Hyun-ah’s Dec. 5 tirade against a flight attendant who served macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a plate in her first-class cabin have sparked outrage and embarrassment in the country. Cho’s behavior forced the New York City-to-Incheon flight to return to its gate. As daughter of the airline’s chairman, Cho’s actions have stoked anger against the giant “chaebol” conglomerates that dominate much of South Korea’s economy.
Last week, the country’s Constitutional Court ordered the small leftist Unified Progressive Party disbanded, citing its pro-North Korean stance. The party’s five National Assembly members were stripped of their seats. The UPP’s disbanding sparked a backlash and complaints of censorship against increasingly unpopular President Park Geun-hye. Recent leaks of memos from the president’s office have indicated that a small number of presidential aides may have wielded unusually strong influence in government affairs.
Stars and Stripes staffer Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this story.
