North Koreans were treated to a Hollywood-style movie, with dramatic music and video effects, starring Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in a leather jacket and dark glasses.
State-run television North Korean Central Television usually broadcasts Kim family propaganda, alongside military band concerts and feature films about patriotism and feats of labour. Anything away from this deviates.
The coverage of the launch of Hwasong-17 was so different. Notionally it came in a news bulletin, but the style was anything but.
Viewers were given 15 minutes of video effects, staged drama, and the sight of Kim Jong-un whipping off his dark glasses to look directly into the camera as if to say, “Let’s do this”.
The stirring music and multiple shots of the missile launch were interspersed with the triumphant tones of veteran newsreader Ri Chun-hee, known in the West as North Korea’s “Pink Lady”.
Social media users were quick to compare it to Top Gun, Thunderbirds and Bollywood movies.
Some said Kim and his generals walking out of the hangar at Pyongyang’s international airport in front of the missile launcher also appeared to mimic the 1983 blockbuster movie The Right Stuff.
Kim Jong-Un and North Korea have unveiled their new ICBM. This video is real. pic.twitter.com/xYo7hA8xhZ
— Market Rebellion (@MarketRebels) March 26, 2022