Are you looking for a job with a lot of perks? Has the headline got you excited? Does it sound just too good, just like “surprise life-long vacations for you”? Well, there’s a catch. These are just a few examples of job offers provided by the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un himself. And the catch?

The job you’ll be assigned is selected at the whim of the government and includes mainly backward manual labour in our age of mechanization. As for the vacation, it takes place at the “world-famous secret prison camps”. One of the requirements states that the person must be able to work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week with a single lunch break (rice provided, famine permitting). So, working in the totalitarian regime does not sound nice at all, does it?

Spoof charity campaign starring #TheGreatestRecruit represents a new way of breaking through all of the noise that is coming out of North Korea. It takes an unusual approach of providing jobs with questionable requirements that got people talking about the North Korean refugee crisis.

So, why would North Korea need to hire new employees from around the world, especially with the help of the glorious leader himself? According to Liberty in North Korea it’s mainly due to a series of recent defections, deaths, and disappearances which definitely happened under no suspicious circumstances. With vacancies opening every day, it is clear that North Koreans are risking their lives to defect the country across the border into China. Still, they are not safe there, as “Chinese authorities seek out, capture, and send refugees back to North Korea. When North Koreans are forcibly returned, they can be subject to brutal punishments by the regime.”

After applying for the job, every potential labourer was redirected to the non-profit organization Liberty in North Korea’s page where they could donate and support refugees escaping the wrath of the North Korean leader.

Advertising specialist based in Seoul, Tomic Lee, is the creative brain behind the campaign. He leads Part Time Labs, which is a small team spread around the globe in South Korea, Europe and the US, and also worked on digital and traditional projects for both BBDO and Proximity. Mr Lee told BBC that: “We had the idea for this project and then pitched it to the NGO in the US. They are a small player and there’s only a limited budget. So, a social media campaign like this really fits for that situation.”.

#TheGreatestRecruit – Case study:

To avoid any doubt, the team created Kim’s LinkedIn profile with achievements like his sanctioned nuclear plants and child labour programs. For his cabinet, Kim got on Twitter and hand-selected his government staff – with picks including Leonardo DiCaprio as the Minister of Environment, or Donald Trump as Minister of Labour and Hillary Clinton as a head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The funny approach to a very serious issue is the highlight of this week’s #ThrowbrandThursday and as Mr Lee explained: “A lot of organisations talk about the story in a very serious way – because of course a lot of people die and get tortured. But that means that people get tired of hearing it and they begin to avoid it.” In order to avoid people being fed up with such campaigns, and to raise the hype about the issue “we try to approach it in a slightly different way to get through to people and raise awareness. And humour works really well with North Korea. There’s no other country or leader like it,” added Tomic Lee.

Although the jobs are not available on LinkedIn anymore and the site has shut down Kim’s profile, we have selected quite a few screenshots, so you can have a laugh, and then think about the seriousness of the issue at the same time.

Credits:

Tomic Lee

Client: Liberty in North Korea
Campaign’s website: Work for the Glory
Kim’s Twitter: +45k followers