“Union of Agricultural Workers Plant Trees,” announced North Korea’s news agency on Nov. 19. Among its other announcements: “Independence Day of Poland Observed” and “Moran Hill, Beauty Spot of Pyongyang.”
These are just some of the ‘tweets’ emanating from the pariah state North Korea — surprisingly advanced, perhaps, for a country so tightly controlled and in the throes of a decade-long food shortage.
The news stories are authentic — but they don’t arrive from Kim Jong Il’s office. According to Forbes, an Austrian impostor posts authentic North Korean news on Twitter to poke fun at the hermit kingdom. Another fake North Korean Twitter-user posts announcements like “U.S. Secretary of State Clinton assailed for bullying and mean-spirited ways.”
The real Korean Central News Agency insists that it is unaffiliated with its Twitter look-alike. “We do not permit to appear KCNA on Twitter at all,”?the service told Forbes.
