| Title | North Korea Possibly Conducts Fifth Nuclear Test, Reportedly Bans Sarcasm | |
| Date | Friday September 09 2016, @01:41AM | |
| Author | cmn32480 | |
| Topic | ||
| from the someone-set-us-up-the-bomb dept. | ||
North Korea may have just conducted a fifth nuclear test:
A seismic event in North Korea on Friday morning measured by the U.S. Geological Survey with a magnitude of 5.3 appeared to be a nuclear test, South Korea's meteorological agency said. The seismic event was detected near North Korea's known nuclear test site, where it detonated its fourth nuclear device in January.
USGS: M5.3 Explosion - 15km ENE of Sungjibaegam, North Korea
Bloomberg also has coverage Shallow Earthquake Detected Near North Korea Nuclear Site which goes into some analysis on the political impact of the test.
Separately, Vanity Fair notes None of your snark, please:
The Independent reports that North Korean party officials held several mass meetings across the country in an attempt to warn citizens that criticizing the state via indirect, ironic statements such as "This is all America's fault" would be illegal and "unacceptable." And the consequences for disobeying are particularly unfunny: according to the nonprofit group Liberty in North Korea, any criticism of the government—including, apparently, the North Korean version of "Thanks, Obama"—"is enough to make you and your family 'disappear' from society and end up in a political prison camp."
Even common idioms are not safe from the sarcasm crackdown: Radio Free Asia reported that, during one of the meetings, the party banned the common expression "a fool who cannot see the outside world," which the regime believes constitutes criticism of Kim's refusal to attend international celebrations marking the end of World War II. (Even party officials within the hyper-authoritarian state were reportedly "shocked" by Kim's decision.)
| Links |
printed from SoylentNews, North Korea Possibly Conducts Fifth Nuclear Test, Reportedly Bans Sarcasm on 2024-04-18 18:43:28