North Korea appears to have hacked the Sony computer
network, capturing many private business communications and some of their
soon-to-be-released movies. This has
hugely damaged the Sony Company.
Apparently the motivation was Sony’s expected new film, The Interview,
in which a team is recruited to assassinate North Korea’s President, Kim
Jong-un. Clearly, Mr. Kim was not
pleased. North Korea threatened a
terrorist attack on theaters playing this movie, the movie theater chains
elected not to screen the film, and Sony “withdrew” the film from release on
Christmas Day 2014.
A big picture look at this contretemps shows two sides: a
young man in North Korea with little ability, personal or experiential, to deal
with the modern world, and the modern world, or the developed world, or the
first world, that has little regard to any forces that stop free speech.
But let’s look more deeply.
Mr. Kim is clearly a sensitive man.
He is the absolute ruler of his country and does not have to accommodate
any disagreement with his authority or any lack of extreme politeness on the
part of people interacting with him.
Briefly, having a movie being released that is about assassinating
oneself is not a situation that most people, including westerners, would
respond to with aplomb.
But, let’s look
further. Mr. Kim is quite young, 31, to
be the head of a modern country. In the
U.S., for example, a person is not eligible for the highest office until age
35. In addition to being young, Mr. Kim
spent his childhood isolated from the problems of his people, and from the
problems of the world. He represents the
things that are wrong with hereditary political systems—isolation from the
concerns of the governed and knowledge of the greater world. Secondly, Asian cultures have the concept of “face.” In Asia, one does not deliberately put a
powerful person in a bad light unless he wants undying hatred and
retribution. Mr. Kim has responded
exactly as expected to this threat to his face.
Now for the other side.
The Western world has unfortunately had many encounters with repressive regimes
that stifle free speech in their own countries, and attempt to stifle free
speech in the world. Most notably this
has been with regard to the Muslims in the Arab world and in Iran, who allow no
criticism of their religion, yet prominently satirize and criticize Judaism and
Christianity. After years of this
affront to western eyes from the Middle East, North Korea steps into the
controversy, in effect inheriting the quarrel.
So North Korea is not only being preyed upon because of its own
failures, but is also, in some ways, a proxy for the Middle Eastern states.
What are some effective ways to resolve this situation?
Here are some responses that North Korea could have
made. One is to call up Sony Pictures
and to ask about their upcoming film. To
have responded with a suggestion to host a blow-out world premiere for the film
in North Korea, on the order of a modern Olympics Opening Session. This would have put the spotlight on North
Korea in a good way, allowing NK to highlight the positives in their
country. Another response would be to
make a film of similar or superior quality with the assassination of some western
icon: the Koch brothers, Sony’s President, Johnny Appleseed, Alfred E. Newman… And to release that film to great
fanfare. Showing one’s sensitivity and
vulnerability is not the answer. Showing
humor and irony is better!
Now, what could the west do better? One way is to make sure this dubious film is
now released in some way. However, what
the North Korean leadership most abhors is allowing their citizens to know
about, and interact with the world, especially with their cousins in South Korea
who speak the same language, share the same heritage until 1953, and are now highly
prosperous and modernized. Connecting
North Koreans with uncensored internet and telecommunications would end the
isolation and would sooner or later make the leadership have to amend their
policies so that North Koreans can be as successful as their South Korean
Cousins. Could we set up uncensored WiFi
just across North Korea’s borders? That
would be a good start. We could also
make sure that North Koreans had the means to access the net and the
telecommunications…
Another approach would be to sponsor a film contest showing
a future vision of a perfected North Korea.
This could be a contest at film schools, or a contest open to all
filmmakers with a substantial incentive to participate and to make a winning
film. These films could be publicly
screened, again with some access made so that North Korean citizens could view
them. Perhaps the North Korean citizens
could vote regarding their choice of winner?
Another film approach would be a contest depicting a
resolution of the suffering of the North Korean people. Unlike the documentary approach likely in the
future vision scenario, this might encourage more dramatic fiction, and
possibly engage people’s hearts more.
These are just starting ideas about peaceful ways to resolve
the mess that now exists in North Korean-American relations. May we together find a peaceful solution and
a way to end the suffering of all!
