christmas cheer

North Korea Furious Over Passive-Aggressive Christmas Tower

A 30-meter-tall (100-foot-tall) steel Christmas tree with about 30,000 light bulbs, is lit by Christian groups at the western mountain peak, known as Aegibong, in Gimpo, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. The Christmas tree would be visible by North Koreans living near the Demilitarized Zone that divided the two Koreas.
It’s like the offspring of a Christmas tree and cell phone tower. Photo: Lee Jin-man/AP/Corbis

A South Korean church group has once again lit a giant, 100-foot steel Christmas tower on a mountain peak in view of the populous North Korean city of Kaesong. North Korea considers the existence of these colorful lights an act of “psychological warfare,” which seems like an acknowledgement of just how dreary things are there.

North Korea Furious Over Steel Christmas Tower