Gallery: The Plot to Free North Korea With Smuggled Episodes of 'Friends'

  • Image may contain Human Person Electronics Computer Keyboard Computer Keyboard Computer Hardware and Hardware
    Joe Pugliese
    01

    north-korea-lead

    Former North Korean official Kim Heung-kwang used to search homes for illegal media; now he smuggles it into the country on flash drives.
  • Image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel Overcoat Coat Suit and Wall
    Joe Pugliese
    02

    ff-northkorea8-g

    Using walkie-talkies, laser pointers, and bribes, smuggler Jung Kwang-il arranges nighttime handoffs of USB drives with North Koreans along the border with China.
  • Image may contain Clothing Apparel Path Walkway Coat Overcoat Human Person Banister and Handrail
    Joe Pugliese
    03

    ff-northkorea7-g

    Jung: “For every USB drive I send across, there are perhaps 100 North Koreans who begin to question why they live this way. Why they’ve been put in a jar.”
  • Image may contain Clothing Apparel Human Person Sunglasses Accessories Accessory Helmet Face and Hardhat
    Joe Pugliese
    04

    ff-northkorea3-g

    For more than 60 years, the two Koreas have been in a military standoff, with soldiers posted on both sides of the border.
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    Joe Pugliese
    05

    ff-northkorea4-g

    With heavy fortifications along the DMZ, some data activists launch balloons that float over the border and release USB sticks, money, and pamphlets.
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    Joe Pugliese
    06

    ff-northkorea-g

    A scene along the Freedom Highway, an eight-lane South Korea road that leads to the DMZ.
  • Image may contain Human Person Footwear Clothing Apparel Shoe Pants Coat Sunglasses Accessories and Accessory
    Joe Pugliese
    07

    ff-northkorea11-g

    A tourist poses with a guard in the joint Security Area of the DMZ in Panmunjom.
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