[Anchor]

The new installment of the globally renowned war game "Call of Duty" was released today (October 23). It depicts a fictional war on the Korean Peninsula triggered by a North Korean invasion. Because of its vivid and realistic depiction, it is also sparking controversy.

Reporter Choi Seung-hun has the details.

[Reporter]

As soldiers emerge from an ordinary convenience store in South Korea, an explosion turns the city streets into a battleground.

[(Do you hear me?) It is an explosion! Get down! Get down!]

This is the game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4," released today.

Cumulative sales for the series have surpassed 500 million copies, and the new release has also claimed 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 forces, featuring familiar alleyways, a baseball stadium, amphibious landing operations, and trench warfare.

The stage also shifts inside North Korea, depicting 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 erupted over whether it is appropriate to use the Korean Peninsula—which remains technically in a state of armistice—as a subject for entertainment.

While some argue that turning an inter-Korean war into entertainment is an overstepping commercialization by a foreign game company, others voice opinions that it falls under freedom of expression and can instead serve as a reminder of the dangers of war.

A debate also unfolded during today'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 showing an overreaction, demanding that the distribution of this game be halted immediately even before its release.]

[Choi Hui-young / Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism: I think having various reactions to a game is just a natural phenomenon.]

The game's 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, Infinity Ward (Game Developer): We want the game to feel like a story straight out of actual news. Not copying it verbatim, but making it feel like it could happen in reality.]

The developer explained that it did not depict the actual Kim Jong-un family and instead established a fictional North Korean leadership.

(Video Journalist: Ha Ryung, Video Editor: Kim Jun-hee, VJ: Lee Ji-hwan, Source footage: YouTube "Call of Duty," "Xbox," "Gamer's Little Playground")