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NEWS OUTLETS AND websites in Ireland around the world have been taken in by a story from an Irish satirical website about a North Korean mission to the sun.
The story, posted on Waterford Whispers on Monday, concerns Korean astronaut Hung Il Gong’s 18-hour round trip to the dark side of the star.
If nothing else, one would think the reference to the space explorer travelling at night might raise a few eyebrows:
Hung, who traveled alone, reached his destination some four hours later, landing his craft on the far side of the lonely star.“We are very delighted to announce a successful mission to put a man on the sun.” a North Korean central news anchor man said on a live broadcast earlier.
“North Korea has beaten every other country in the world to the sun. Hung Il Gong is a hero and deserves a hero’s welcome when he returns home later this evening.”
The specially trained astronaut is expected to return back to earth at 9pm tonight, where he will meet his uncle and supreme leader Kim Jong-un.
It is understood that the 17-year-old ‘space explorer’ traveled at night to avoid being engulfed by the suns rays, and that this genius approach has brought the soviet state to the top of the global space rankings.
Amongst the outlets taken in by the tale were conservative news site the Canada Free Press, technology site Tweaktown and Arizona radio station K-TAR.
It should be noted that the sites aren’t necessarily falling for what’s described in the article as the ‘official state news agency’ line in the ‘report’ — rather, they’re reporting on the fact that the report was reported by the official North Korean state news agency.
Even our own Sunday World picked up on it — poking fun at North Korea’s ‘report’:
[Image: Screengrab of the Sunday World at 7.10pm on 25/01/2014]
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Waterford Whispers owner Colm Williamson said he was surprised that the story had been picked up worldwide in such a manner.
“The North Koreans are noted for their propaganda so that’s what we were satirising — the ridiculous nature of their propoganda,” Williamson said.
There’s been a huge spike in traffic to the site since the story was posted on Tuesday, and Williamson’s paid tribute to his webmaster Alan McCabe for keeping them online amid a cyber-attack from “somewhere in Asia” during the week.
“The story began to pick up in eastern Europe first, but when it it began to take off further east that’s when the trouble began.”
There were attempts to hack the server that hosts the site and have the story taken down, but it remains online tonight and Williamson says they now have “a thousand links back” to the post on Waterford Whispers.
The picture of the ‘North Korean central news anchor man’ was taken from an actual state TV broadcast, but the image of the rocket was then Photoshopped in.
It’s not the first time The Internet has been duped by a story from the site — its report that Michelle Obama had called Irish people ‘ugly m****f*****s’ also created a bit of a stir last year.
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A positive story of US politics. It’s great they’re showing support for Hong Kong and their fight against authoritarianism.
@sVRCsaSg: Really? He only supported it to pi$$ off the Chinese…… he stays pretty neutral when it comes to Russia or Saudi, this guy is a wrecking ball
@Tony Henry: can you not take a good result even if you think there’s some ulterior motive behind it or just because there are other areas that are lacking in your opinion.
@Tony Henry: hardly new , Clinton, bush and Obama all did the same
@sVRCsaSg: yet he continually reiterates his admiration for Putin and Kim.
@Conoroconnor: same thing I said to Tony. I’m not saying the political situation is perfect but I think you should try to be happy with a positive story instead of immediately jumping to other more negative situations.
@sVRCsaSg: fair enough, but don’t you think it’s appropriate to also question his motives? Trump has never in his life been on the side of the ‘little guy’
@Conoroconnor: yeah maybe. We can question and transfer our views of him onto the things we don’t know (his ulterior motives) or we can just be happy with the outcome for once.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t question these things but it must get exhausting. Allow yourself to be happy once in a while.
@sVRCsaSg: it’s a good result but Trump is constant at being inconsistent…. if the trade war ends in 2 weeks, the same support for the cause could be re-categorised as domestic terrorisim …. his opinion shifts daily that’s what makes him so dangerous and toxic
@Tony Henry: It says in the article that he didn’t want to sign it, but was basically forced by Congress. Whatever you say about Trump, he is not interested in picking fights about foreign political issues. I would assume that he thinks Hong Kong, like Crimea, is not the US’s business.
@Gerry Quinn: has he not spent the last 4 years abusing leaders from countries such as France and NZ, gives unwanted advice publicly regarding Brexit, starts an unwinnable trade war with China all the while kissing Putin’s and Kim Jong’s asses?
@Tony Henry: what country stands up to Saudi in the Western world?? Give you a clue its btween 0-0
@Paul O Mahony: thanks for the clue….. very difficult to stand up to Saudi when you balls deep in multi billion arms and trade deals….. vested interests very much at play here
So trump bans the sale of tear gas and rubber bullets to the Hong Kong police as they try and retain some sort of order in their city, yet is quite happy to supply the Israeli army with with bombs and weapons as they slaughter innocent women and children. Go figure.
@Kevin: so do the British, French and Germans.
One can be quite selective about who’s democracy and human rights and supported and who’s are not.
What makes a nice dictatorship and what makes a bad dictatorship?
@George Vladisavljevic: The genocide
attributable, respectively?
So is he going to do the same and show support for Palestinians?
@Ben Dunne: No, because he’s a hypocrite and likely only did it to annoy the Chinese central government, and not because he actually cares.
He’s is 100% right ,I stand with Hong Kong
@Punters Pal: I dont. Very few countries would give independence to their wealthiest state or provence. Would California get it if they protested?
Donald loves to light his fire with petrol
Better late than never. I suppose he felt it prudent to wait until the protests had just about stopped
Trump..his most dangerous attributes are his stupidity and ignorance.
@CJ Stewart: you don’t support Hong Kong ???
@Punters Pal: B@##@£%s. China is a country of one point six billion people. If the government do not act? Millions will die in the confrontation. Take an objective view from the Chinese governments side. Remember colonisation sparked this flame in the beginning? I may not agree with with the Chinese political system, but the Trump admin should keep their grotty empire building tactics out of this one. Then what’s a few more million lives to Washington?
have your say