The Interview DVD smuggled to North Korea by giant balloon

North Korea won't have to wait much longer for Sony's film The Interview to premiere in the country, with activists in South Korea planning to send copies over the border by balloon.

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The movie has enraged the leadership of North Korea for its depiction of the fictional assassination of 3rd Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un.

At the end of the movie his head is shown to graphically catch fire, and in a close up, explode.

Now a defector from North Korea, Park Sang-Hak, is planning to send 100,000 copies of the film to the hermit country on DVD and USB using giant balloons.

He today told AFP news agency: "Probably the first launch will be made in late January if weather conditions allow."

The US-based non-profit Human Rights Foundation reportedly financed the production of the DVDs and purchase of the USB memory sticks.


Sony withdrew its parody film The Interview after a cyber-hack which led to the leak of embarrassing internal emails, but later gave the film limited release and distributed it for rent on YouTube.

North Korea had urged the US to join an investigation into the cyber-attack, and warned of "grave consequences" if Washington refused to agree.

The news comes on the same day that Kim Jong Un said in a new year address that he might be opened to high level talks with South Korea.

"We believe we can resume suspended senior-level talks and hold other talks on specific issues if South Korea sincerely has a position that it wants to improve North-South relations through a dialogue," he said in a nationally televised address.

The balloons have been used in the past to send anti-regime propaganda to people in the country who are almost completely cut off from the rest of the world.

Despite assumptions about the country lacking any modern technology, many wealthier residents have televisions and DVD players smuggled into the country from the land border with China.