All things happened in the past may not be good for example financial crises, wars, tsunami's ...etc. So past is not reference to present or future.

>>> There is always people whose sensitivity gets hurt by movies and books, but this should not automatically lead to stopping publishing.

There are "defamation laws" in many countries. Many people/companies use them if they feel offended/hurt, even if they are not noble. This incident may be the same for NK.