North Korean Video of US 'Attack' Ripped Off 'Call of Duty' Video Game

The bizarre North Korean video depicting a missile attack on a metropolis resembling New York City has been taken down, not because of the resulting outrage but because of a copyright complaint from an American video game publisher claiming the video's scenes of destruction were ripped from its popular "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" game.

The three-minute video was uploaded to the Uriminzokkiri YouTube channel Saturday, but pulled sometime Tuesday. "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Activision Games Inc.," was the message left in its place.

The original North Korea video featured a dream sequence where a city — it could be NYC — is seen shrouded in an American flag and burning down in flames. The whole thing is set to an instrumental version of Michael Jackson's "We are The World."



"Somewhere in the United States, black clouds of smoke are billowing," reads a caption superimposed over the footage, translated by The Guardian. "It seems that the nest of wickedness is ablaze."

But the burning building scenes appear to be pulled right from Activision's wildy popular "Call of Duty" shooter game, and the company has reacted with a copyright infringement claim.



The original post was removed from YouTube, but it lives on in many other places.

The clip caused a stir online as North Korea seems poised to conduct a third nuclear test. It was posted just a day after North Korea threatened to retaliate against the U.S. for backing a resolution to censure and sanction the country for a rocket launch in December that breached the United Nations' rules. North Korea also conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 after the U.S. condemned the country for its rocket launches.

Kim Sook, South Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, confirmed Tuesday that a test is looming. He told a press conference that "very busy activities" were taking place at the North Korea nuclear test site "and everybody's watching," according to the Guardian.

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