Why North Korea is Entertaining Crowds with (Unauthorized) Disney

BBC- Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters have shown up on stage in North Korea in a concert for leader Kim Jong-un, raising some eyebrows.

Performers dressed as cartoon characters popular in the west were seen dancing on state TV, along with violin players in miniskirts.

Pyongyang has long taken pains to keep popular culture out of its media.

This seems to be the first time that Disney characters have been featured in the reclusive state.

A Disney spokesperson told the Associated Press news agency that it had not licensed or authorized the use of the characters in the show.

From Daniel Drezner’s post at Foreign Policy “Kim Jong Un’s Disney Kryptonite?”

In full summer daydream mode, I think this is an outstanding opportunity to pursue unconventional statecraft towards Pyongyang. Clearly, there’s something about Disney that renders the Kim family weak at the knees. Clearly, the best way to exploit this vulnerability is to have the State Department commission Disney to make a film containing Zoolander-like subliminal images that target the Kim family in particular to subvert their own regime. We know (sorta) that Disney has done this before. We know that even someone as wide-eyed as Katy Perry can be weaponized. Why shouldn’t the United States exploit its soft power and deploy the Disney Gambit against the Kims?