Sony hack: North Korea calls Barack Obama a 'monkey' after accusing US of internet blackout

Sony hack: North Korea calls Barack Obama a 'monkey' after accusing US of internet blackout

The rogue state used a racial slur to describe the American president, as the row over the Sony Pictures hack and release of The Interview continues. North Korea has sparked outrage after referring to Barack Obama as "a monkey in a tropical forest", while accusing America of orchestrating an internet blackout in the Sony Pictures hack row. The rogue state released a statement this morning claiming the United States was responsible for internet outages in recent days, as the two countries continue their confrontation over the film The Interview.

North Korea experienced Internet problems last weekend and a complete outage of nearly nine hours before links were largely restored on Tuesday. American tech companies have said that disruption could have been due to technological glitches or a hacking attack, and US officials said Washington was not involved. But North Korea's National Defence Commission said this morning: "The United States, with its large physical size and oblivious to the shame of playing hide and seek as children with runny noses would, has begun disrupting the Internet operations of the main media outlets of our republic. "It is truly laughable."

In the statement carried by the country's official KCNA news agency, a spokesman is also reported to have used a racial slur to describe Obama when criticising the release of The Interview, saying: "Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest." The spokesman again rejected an accusation by the FBI that North Korea was behind the original cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, and demanded the United States produce the evidence for its accusation. "Obama had better thrust himself to cleaning up all the evil doings that the US has committed out of its hostile policy against (North Korea) if he seeks peace on US soil.

hen all will be well," they added. Following the hack attack on Sony, the studio cancelled the release of comedy picture "The Interview", about the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

After criticism from President Barack Obama that it was caving into pressure from North Korea, Sony reversed its decision and decided on a limited release. The film took in more than $1 million in a Christmas Day release in 331 mostly independent theatres after large movie theatre chains refused to screen the comedy following threats of violence from hackers.