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North Korea Now Has Its Version of Netflix, and It’s What You’d Expect

North Korea Now Has Its Version of Netflix, and It’s What You’d Expect

Netflix and chill? How about Netflix and IL? As in Kim Jong-il, the late dictator of North Korea and father to current leader Kim Jong-un. Yes, Variety (via NK News) reports the isolated communist country now has an internet-based VOD service, available to the few thousand people who actually have access to their nation’s closed-system intranet, arguably more of a misinformation country lane (complete with roadblocks) than an information superhighway.

Five channels will be available, and their programming is, well, about what you’d imagine: documentaries about the greatness of the Kim family and their ideology, and language-learning programs to teach viewers English and Russian. Given that the image above is of a Russian-language lab in North Korea, no doubt the opportunity to study at home comes as a great relief to many. And because even language documentaries are a refreshing escape relative to the other aspects of life in a totalitarian state, kids are apparently asking to watch some of the shows over and over.

No word on whether the network will be showing episodes of Skylark Tonight, but we suspect not.

In an added wrinkle that even Seth Rogen and James Franco couldn’t make up, the name of the service is, well, interesting to the English-speaking ear. Remember when they called their nuclear missiles Taepodong, and Stephen Colbert did a whole routine about that sounding like “type o’ dong”?

North Korean Netflix is called “Manbang.”

Yes, it’s a word that means “everywhere/every direction,” but still…”Manbang and chill” has a whole new meaning when you say it aloud.

What show would you pitch to the executives at Manbang? Gray Is the New Gray? Marvel’s Capitalistdevil? Give it your best shot in comments below.

Featured image: Stefan Krasowski/Flickr

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