Parody North Korea Account Snags CNN

A couple weeks ago Mediaite profiled @DPRK_News, a Popehat-run parody account that has been alarmingly successful in tricking media outlets into thinking it is the official voice of the reclusive nation.

On Sunday the account claimed another scalp: CNN, which included in a news report a @DPRK_News tweet claiming that North Korea had frozen President Barack Obama’s assets in retaliation for a new round of sanctions. Below is a screenshot:

That tweet is now gone, and CNN issued the following correction:

As usual, the pranksters celebrated in character:

Dung-eating jackals of U.S. Cable News Network, confronted by revolutionary truth of Juche idea, agree to retract vile smears against DPRK.

— DPRK News Service (@DPRK_News) January 4, 2015

@DPRK_News doesn’t explicitly stamp its account satire, but plenty of absurd material gets the point across anyway. Yet in one December week alone the account fooled Washington Post, Slate, Newsweek, and Greta van Susteren.

[Image via screengrab]

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