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Moviegoers celebrate the release of 'The Interview.' Sony originally pulled the movie after hackers threatened violence against theaters showing the film on Christmas Day. VPC
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, attends a shooting practice at a military academy in Pyongyang, North Korea.(Photo: North Korean Central News Agency via European Pressphoto Agency)
North Korea hurled a racist insult at President Obama Saturday and accused the U.S. of engineering the country's recent Internet disruption, while continuing to deny launching a cyberattack on Sony Pictures in response to the comedy The Interview.
The film, which depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by two American journalists, outraged North Korea and prior to its release Sony Pictures fell victim to a crippling cyberattack exposing private e-mails and releasing potentially blockbuster films to pirating sites.
USA TODAY
Timeline: North Korea and the Sony Pictures hack
Sony Pictures initially called off the film's release after hackers threatened 9/11-style attacks on theaters screening The Interview. Obama called the move "a mistake" and many across the USA were outraged by what was perceived as a capitulation to terrorists, an infringement on American sovereignty and a threat to freedom of expression.
Sony Pictures then reversed its decision and released the film on a limited number of screens across the country on Christmas Day and made it available for digital rental and purchase online.
USA TODAY
Fans turn out for 'The Interview' on Christmas
North Korea's National Defense Commission, the country's top governing body led by Kim, blamed Obama for the release of The Interview, which it described as illegal, dishonest and reactionary, the Associated Press reported.
"Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest," an unidentified spokesman at the commission's Policy Department said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The spokesman said the U.S. was behind the interruptions to North Korean Internet connections this week.
Last week, the FBI announced its analysis concluded North Korea was behind the cyberattack on Sony Pictures and President Obama promised a proportional response.
There was no immediate reaction from the White House on Saturday.
According to the North Korea commission's spokesman, "the U.S., a big country, started disturbing the Internet operation of major media of the DPRK, not knowing shame like children playing a tag."
Contributing: The Associated Press
North Koreans gather in front of a portrait of their late leader Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, right, paying respects to their late leader Kim Jong Il, to mark the third anniversary of his death, Wednesday Dec. 17 at Pyong Chon District in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea marked the end of a three-year mourning period for the late leader Kim Jong Il on Wednesday, opening the way for his son, Kim Jong Un, to put a more personal stamp on the way the country is run. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Kim Kwang Hyon, AP)
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