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NEW YORK — As North Korea prepares for its third nuclear test, a propaganda film has surfaced showing a U.S. city in flames.
The video, posted Sunday on outlets for North Korean state media, shows a rocket circling the globe as a U.S. city that resembles New York is draped in an American flag. The city is shown in flames, apparently under a missile attack.
"I see black smoke billowing somewhere in America," subtitles read when translated, according to The New York Times. "It appears that the headquarters of evil, which has had a habit of using force and unilateralism and committing wars of aggression, is going up in flames it itself has ignited."
The problem — beyond the obviously unsettling imagery — is that the footage is lifted straight from video games including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and "We Are the World," according to Kotaku.
"That scene of destruction will look familiar to anyone who has played Modern Warfare 3, because it is from Modern Warfare 3," Brian Ashcraft wrote for the site. "It's as though the North Korean propaganda wizards were unable to render destruction of New York on their own, so they had to borrow images from Call of Duty."
The video was removed from YouTube after a copyright claim from Activision, makers of Call of Duty. Copies were uploaded to various sites online including LiveLeak, though.
The video, apparently meant to show the power of the North Korean space program, was released as the country prepares for what South Korea believes is an "imminent" nuclear test.
At a press conference Monday, South Korea's U.N. ambassador said there are "very busy activities" at North Korea's nuclear test site. Ambassador Kim Sook urged the U.N. Security Council to take "firm and strong measures" against the test, according to the Associated Press.
"They are very firm and resolute and I would expect very firm and strong measures to be taken in terms of format as well as in substance once they go ahead with such provocation" as a nuclear test, Kim said.
