North Korea Files Complaint With United Nations Over 'The Interview'

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the reclusive country called the film, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, "an act of war."

North Korea has filed a complaint with the United Nations over the upcoming Sony film starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, The Interview, which tells the story of a plot to assassinate the country's supreme leader, Kim Jong-un.

In a letter addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dated June 27, North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Ja Song Nam accuses the United States of sponsoring terrorism and committing an act of war by allowing such a film to be made.

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"To allow the production and distribution of such a film on the assassination of an incumbent head of a sovereign state should be regarded as the most undisguised sponsoring of terrorism as well as an act of war," Ja wrote, according to Reuters, which saw the letter.

"The United States authorities should take immediate and appropriate actions to ban the production and distribution of the aforementioned film; otherwise, it will be fully responsible for encouraging and sponsoring terrorism," he said.

The Interview, set to be released on October 10, stars Franco and Rogen as a talk-show host and his producer who land an exclusive interview in North Korea with Kim Jong-un, but then are approached by the CIA with an assignment to kill the dictator.

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On June 25, the Hermit Kingdom's official KCNA news agency first released a report attacking the film as an act of war. Ja's letter to the U.N. included this article, according to Reuters.

A few days later, a spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said,“If the U.S. administration connives at and patronizes the screening of the film, it will invite a strong and merciless countermeasure.”

Rogen tweeted in response: "People don't usually wanna kill me for one of my movies until after they've paid 12 bucks for it."