VOA标准英语2014--嘲讽金正恩,后果很严重

Mocking Kim Jong Un, a Serious Matter 嘲讽金正恩,后果很严重

SEOUL—

After major American theater chains decided 1 not to run a new Hollywood comedy about a U.S. plot to assassinate 2 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, its financial backer, Sony Pictures Entertainment, decided not to release it. The decision follows a threat by mysterious computer hackers 3 to attack theaters showing the movie. North Korea's reaction to the “The Interview” underscores its intolerance for any ridicule 4 of the country's young leader.

Inside North Korea, Kim Jong Un, like his late father and grandfather, is depicted 5 as infallible.

The state-controlled media jubilantly reported that he won an election to the Supreme 6 People's Assembly last year with 100 percent of the vote. Of course, his was the only name on the ballot 7.

So it is not surprising that North Korea is angry about “The Interview,” a dark comedy that ridicules 8 the leader before depicting 9 his assassination 10. The Foreign Ministry 11 in Pyongyang called the film an act of war and promised retaliation 12.

Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea, says Pyongyong is very protective of its leader’s image.

“North Koreans react to satire 13 very sensitively and there were some cases that they complained about it harming the dignity of their leader in the past,” says Kim Yong-hyun.

North Korea protested the movie “Team America: World Police” that comically depicted Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, when it came out a decade ago. But the country never took any provocative 14 action in response.

That may have changed with the cyber attack on Sony. Pyongyang denied any involvement, but the unknown hackers who released confidential 15 company information had threatened to release more unless the studio cancelled the release of “The Interview.”

Korea analyst 16 Victor Cha with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington says Kim Jong Un’s weeks-long disappearance 17 earlier in the year and the execution of his uncle indicate the young leader may be struggling to solidify 18 his grip on power.

“The leadership transition is now three years old. We still don’t know if it’s entirely 19 complete. There continue to be purges 20 inside the country, which gives one the sense that there’s some turn inside the system,” he said.

Cha says lampooning 21 Kim Jong Un’s carefully managed image can undermine the regime in a way that sanctions or hostile actions cannot.

“They can always rally the people around western hostility 22 but western ridicule is harder for them to rally their people around because it raises questions about the leadership,” Cha said.

The commotion 23 over a comedic film is adding to the tension in the region as international talks to curb 24 North Korea’s nuclear program remains 25 deadlocked 26 and the United Nations continues to pressure the regime on charges of human rights abuses.