Designer Karl Holmstrom from Belfast aims to create a Kim Jong-un toy and is trying to raise £12,000 for it through crowd funding platform Kickstarter. However, it looks like his creative plan has been derailed after North Korea reportedly got a whiff of it.
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Holmstrom now claims that he received "two really strange" calls, which warned him against designing the doll and also said that an attempt was made to hack his email.
"The line was really bad and they had a thick accent. There was no threats or anything, it was short and they insisted the campaign was removed," the 32-year-old designer told the Belfast Telegraph. "I can't be sure these people were actually calling from the North Korean embassy. But then yesterday there was actually a hacking attempt on my email. I could tell, as when I tried to log in yesterday it was locked.
"I thought they were prank calls at first, but when the email hack followed, I'm not sure what to think."
However, the designer noted that he doesn't have any fears and will go ahead with the campaign, for which a promotional video also has been released. While the video makes an appeal for funding, it closes with a witty statement that says: "Get your Kim Jong-un action figure today, nuclear missiles sold separately," taking a dig at the regular missile tests that the country carries out.
Until now, the project, the funding for which closes on June 16, 2017, has found five backers who have pledged £211. A few people have also commented on Kickstarter talking about what they feel about the North Korean leader.
"All joking aside. I think Kim Jong Un is a pretty terrible dude with an even worse haircut. As a rule of thumb. If you're the only fat guy in a country where people are starving we can pretty much establish that you're a di*****d," reads a comment.
The Belfast Telegraph tried getting in touch with officials in North Korea but got no response on the same.
