North Korea is a country shrouded in mystery, but when the story broke a few days ago reporting that North Korean archaeologists were claiming to have found a unicorn lair, people became more confused about the isolated country than normal. It has come to light that the news story may have been a fantastical fantasy of the Western press as no such claims were ever made by North Korea. In fact the fictitious story stems partly from mistranslation.

A glance at the original Korean version of the story made clear that North Korean archaeologists were claiming no such thing. For starters, there was no talk of unicorns, but of “kirins” or “Qilins”

Not only was the mystical beast that inhabited the ancient lair translated incorrectly but also…

There was no suggestion unicorns really lived in the lair. It was just a mythical name, said Grayson. Just as only small children expect to find giants at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland or fairies at the Fairy Steps in Beetham, Cumbria, North Koreans are highly unlikely to believe that kirins have ever actually lived in Kiringul.

It looks like some people need to brush up on their Korean, and their common sense.

via: The Guardian