Altered video shows North Korean military chorus singing Queen’s ‘I want to break free’
By Reuters Fact CheckApril 12, 202312:07 AM GMT+9:30Updated a year ago
A video showing a North Korean military chorus performing Queen’s “I want to break free” to leader Kim Jong Un was created by a comedy YouTube channel. The clip, which includes superimposed audio of the song and combines fragments from at least two events, has fooled some online users into thinking it is authentic.
A Facebook reel with the edited footage has been played close to one million times as of this article’s writing (here).
While some users acknowledge the audio has been altered, others expressed confusion or appeared to think the scene was authentic, with comments like “Is this for real?” and “it was a message for him actually..!!!very ironic.”
The video includes a watermark that reads “@larsvonretriever” and can be found online as early as Jan. 10, 2023, when it was posted on a YouTube channel of that name (here). “NOTE: Alternate Reality footage,” part of the clip’s description reads.
In its “About” section, the channel Lars von Retriever warns, “this is a comedy channel so don’t take my videos too seriously, please.” (here)
Playing the video with the app to help users identify music, Shazam, resulted in Australian act Pub Choir's cover of the song, which can also be heard on YouTube (here)
The altered footage includes fragments of a video of an hour-and-a-half-long performance of North Korea girl pop group Moranbong band and the State Merited Chorus, viewable on YouTube (youtu.be/9sdT10f3AFM).
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