The war of words over the Sony hack continues, with North Korea calling President Obama “a monkey” and blaming Washington for a massive internet outage earlier this week.
According to Reuters , an unnamed spokesman for The National Defence Commission, the ruling body of North Korea chaired by Kim Jong Un, said Saturday that Obama was responsible for Sony’s decision to release the movie The Interview , a comedy which depicts a plot to assassinate the North Korean leader.
“Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest,” the spokesman said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KNAC), leading many to believe that he intended a racial slur against President Obama.
This isn’t the first time North Korea has used the “monkey” slur against the president, reports the Inquisitr . A worker was quoted by the KNAC earlier this year, saying that Obama looked like “an African native monkey,” and behaved like “a monkey with a red bum.”
The recent large scale hack against Sony was thought to be perpetrated by North Korea, and the entertainment company canceled The Interview release after threats of violence from the hackers caused major theater chains to refuse to screen the movie.
Sony later decided on a limited release, after Obama chastised them for caving to North Korean pressure. The president also promised retaliation against North Korea, but did not specify what type.
On Saturday, North Korea demanded evidence that it was responsible for the hack, and blamed the U.S. for internet outages experienced in their country this past week. Although it is not clear if Washington was behind the disruption of internet access, officials believe that the outages are a cyberattack — the retaliation promised by Obama.
“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,” North Korea said, adding that the U.S. administration had “feigned ignorance” of the attack.
North Korea continues to deny responsibility for the hack, and experts are beginning to doubt the country’s involvement. However, the government is highly offended by The Interview , and was opposed to its release , describing it as “illegal, dishonest, and reactionary,” reports ABC News .
The Washington Post reports the release of The Interview has been a surprise success in China, where thousands have downloaded it — most illegally — in protest of censorship. Most Chinese viewers who downloaded the movie have left positive reviews online and seem to enjoy the lampooning of North Korea, accusing the country’s administration of having no sense of humor.
[Image via attn ]
