What Young North Koreans Dream Of

The copyright infringing video game destruction of America, apparently.

By Michael Peck, a defense writer.

February 8, 2013, 8:50 PM

We might expect young North Koreans to dream impossible dreams, like having enough food to eat. But we would be wrong. Young North Koreans dream of destroying New York with a missile barrage, according to a North Korean video on YouTube.

You can watch the full four-minute video here, or watch a truncated version along with a helpful voiceover translation provided by the Guardian here. The video begins with a shot of a young North Korean photographer sleeping. He then embarks on a dream journey on a North Korean space shuttle. The spaceship then orbits over the Earth (who knew that crowds of cheering North Koreans could be glimpsed from orbit?), followed by video game imagery of a city exploding under a barrage of missiles, all to a soothing piano-bar rendition of "We Are the World."

"Somewhere in the United States, black clouds of smoke are billowing. It seems that the nest of wickedness is ablaze in the fire it started," says the screen text. After more flying through space (naturally filled with glittering stardust), the video ends with real footage of a North Korean rocket that doesn’t explode in mid-air. The video ends with the young North Korean blissfully sleeping, perhaps dreaming of a spaceship that takes him to a magical world where food is grown.

The original video was removed from North Korea’s official Uriminzokkiri YouTube channel, after U.S. video game publisher Activision complained that the graphics of the burning American city were taken from its Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. One wonders if, by chance, the next Call of Duty game will feature American forces blowing up Pyongyang. It is curious that North Koreans’ dreams consist of video game imagery, considering that most North Koreans don’t own a computer, let alone play computer games. It is even more puzzling that the video used imagery from a shooter game, instead of footage from last year’s Red Dawn movie. If Pyongang believes that Americans will be intimidated by scenes of our cities on fire, think of how frightening North Korean paratroopers landing on San Francisco would be.

The fact that the video appears just days after North Korea’s announcement of an upcoming nuclear test seems less than coincidental. As for the North Korean space shuttle, North Korea does not appear to have a manned spacecraft. However, since they have developed rockets, satellites, and nuclear weapons, a North Korean spaceship is possible. They just need Pakistan to sell them the plans.

Michael Peck is a defense writer. He is a contributor to Forbes Defense, editor of Uncommon Defense, and senior analyst for Wikistrat. Twitter: @Mipeck1