The paper published an Olympics medal tally that referred to North Korea as ‘Naughty Korea’ and democratic South Korea as ‘Nice Korea’.
The regime subsequently issued a missive to mX – which has editions in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane – calling the joke a “bullying act” that was “foolish” and “degrading”.
The Korean Central News Agency issued a statement that accused the Aussie newspaper of “insulting the Olympic spirit of solidarity, friendship and progress and politicising sports”.
However, it then took a bizarre turn, reading: “The Australian paper cooked up the way of moneymaking, challenging the authority of the dignified sovereign state. The paper deserves a trifle sum of dirty money.”
Hilariously, it then became clear that the KCNA believed the paper was called the Brisbane Metro.
“The Brisbane Metro will remain as a symbol of rogue paper for its misdeed to be cursed long in Olympic history. The infamy is the self-product of the naughty paper Brisbane Metro which dared challenge the spirit of Olympic, common desire and unanimous will of mankind,” the statement said.
mX’s editors wasted no time in making their own statement.
In a joint note from editors Claire Sutherland (Melbourne mX), Craig Herbert (Sydney mX) and Emma Chalmers (Brisbane mX), they responded: “mX is widely known for its irreverent take on the news and the London 2012 Olympics are being approached with that perspective in mind.
“It was in no way intended to offend the athletes or citizens of either South Korea or North Korea.
“North Korea’s political leadership is no stranger to global critcism and it would be difficult for anyone to fail to see the comment was aimed directly at that record.”
Hm, we’d guess Aus is off North Korea’s Christmas card list.
