[Anchor]
The new installment of the globally renowned war video game series "Call of Duty" was released yesterday (October 23). It depicts a fictional war on the Korean Peninsula triggered by a North Korean invasion, but its realistic portrayal has sparked controversy.
Reporter Choi Seung-hun has the story.
[Reporter]
As soldiers walk out of an ordinary convenience store in South Korea, an explosion turns the city streets into a battlefield.
[(Do you hear me?) It's an explosion. Get down! Get down!]
This is "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4," which was released yesterday.
The cumulative sales of the franchise have surpassed 500 million copies, and the new title has also climbed to the top spot on game distribution platforms.
The story follows South Korean Private Park Hyun-jun fighting against a full-scale invasion by North Korean troops, featuring familiar alleys, a baseball stadium, amphibious operations, and trench warfare.
The setting also shifts inside North Korea, featuring crowds gathered for the supreme leader's funeral, a power succession, and a military coup.
Although it is a fictional war within a game, controversy has arisen over whether it is appropriate to use the Korean Peninsula, which remains technically in a state of armistice, as a subject for a video game.
While some argue that turning an inter-Korean war into entertainment is an overstepping of commercialization by a foreign game company, others voice opinions that it falls under freedom of expression and can serve to remind people of the dangers of war.
A debate also took place during yesterday's parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
[Kim Seok-ki / National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee member (People Power Party): It is said that the progressive faction has been making overreactions, demanding that the distribution of this game be halted immediately even before its release.]
[Choi Hwi-young / Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism: I think it is simply a natural phenomenon that there are various reactions regarding the game.]
The developer stated that it chose South Korea as a backdrop by focusing on the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
[Jack O'Hara / Co-head of Infinity Ward (Game Developer): We want the game to feel like a story straight out of the actual news. Not copying it directly, but making it feel like it could happen in reality.]
The developer explained that it did not portray the actual Kim Jong-un family, but instead set up a fictional North Korean leadership.
(Video Journalist: Ha Ryong | Video Editing: Kim Jun-hee | VJ: Lee Ji-hwan | Source: YouTube channels 'Call of Duty', 'Xbox', and 'Gamer's Little Playground')
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