South Koreans Play Pokemon Go on Dangerous Territory

Many of us today were likely mega fans of the Japanese franchise Pokemon growing up. But that phenomenon ended in the early 2000’s, right? Right. That is until Pokemon made a comeback this July of course, with a brand new game called Pokemon Go.

The game is location based and uses GPS and cameras of compatible devices to capture, battle, and train virtual Pokemon, who appear on the screen as if they were real. The game was released in some countries only but Pokemon is working fast to make it available worldwide.

Pokemon fanatics

Several fans have become impatient waiting for the game to be available in their country, and have resorted to purchasing accounts at app stores in other countries where the game is available. South Korea is one of the countries that has been majorly plagued by Pokemon fever; so much so, that people are travelling to a town called Sokcho located near the border of North Korea, to play this game. A technical glitch in the game’s software is allowing South Koreans with app store access to get into the game.

The reason behind this is Sokcho’s unique location. Game developer, Niantic has included the seaside town which is actually in South Korea, to be in North Korea. This little error means Pokémon creatures roam free for South Koreans to catch!

The reason South Korea can’t play Pokemon Go

In order for this game to work, it needs to use Google Maps but for security reasons South Korea has restrictions on mapping services in the country. The nation is trying to protect sensitive information like locations of military bases, from being leaked to its neighbouring enemy North Korea.

It’s not likely that South Korea will let up on its security laws for a video game, but for now this is the loophole citizens can use to play Pokemon Go.

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