{"id":77545,"date":"2014-12-27T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-27T09:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=77545"},"modified":"2014-12-27T11:33:52","modified_gmt":"2014-12-27T11:33:52","slug":"north-korea-berates-obama-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=77545","title":{"rendered":"North Korea berates Obama over film"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

North Korea has condemned US President Barack Obama over the release of the film The Interview, about a fictional plot to kill its leader Kim Jong-un.<\/p>\n

The country’s National Defence Commission (NDC) also accused the US of shutting down the country’s internet – and used a racial slur to describe the “reckless” Mr Obama.<\/p>\n

Sony Pictures had originally pulled the title after a cyber-attack and threats.<\/p>\n

But the company later reconsidered, releasing the comedy on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

A number of critics – including the US president – had warned that freedom of expression was under threat if the movie was shelved.<\/p>\n

The controversial film was shown in some US cinemas and is available online, with several hundred independent theatres coming forward and offering to screen it.<\/p>\n

However, larger cinemas decided not to show the film.<\/p>\n

‘Righteous deed’<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In a statement issued on Saturday, an NDC spokesman denounced the US for screening the “dishonest and reactionary movie hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK [North Korea] and agitating terrorism”.<\/p>\n

President Obama, the statement said, “is the chief culprit who forced the Sony Pictures Entertainment to indiscriminately distribute the movie”, blackmailing cinemas in the US.<\/p>\n

It added: “Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest.”<\/p>\n

The NDC also accused also Washington of “groundlessly linking the unheard of hacking at the Sony Pictures Entertainment to the DPRK”.<\/p>\n

\"line\"<\/div>\n

Analysis: Stephen Evans, BBC News, Seoul<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Randall<\/div>\n

The Interview is a classic Hollywood romp involving two lads who go to a strange place and get seduced (in several senses).<\/p>\n

And it is very funny. That’s partly because it is also a very good political satire.<\/p>\n

It is powerful because it depicts Kim Jong-un as a vain, buffoonish despot, alternating between threats and weeping that he’s been misunderstood. The people around him have all the signs of fear you might expect with a despot – they second-guess his likes and dislikes.<\/p>\n

Maybe he – and they – were right to fear the film. North Korean defectors sometimes smuggle USB sticks with films and soaps into the closed-off country, and there is a view in the south that these are a particularly powerful means of undermining the regime in Pyongyang. If that’s so, The Interview might be a good candidate for inclusion.<\/p>\n

That fear may explain the North Korean leadership’s intemperate, deeply racist language. It’s not the first time, it has called President Obama a monkey.<\/p>\n

Crude insult or satire. Which is more effective?<\/p>\n

\"line\"<\/div>\n

FBI accusation<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sony Pictures had initially pulled the film after suffering an unprecedented hacking attack at the hands of a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace.<\/p>\n

The hackers also threatened to carry out a terrorist attack on cinemas showing the film on its scheduled release date of Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

Last week, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said its analysis pointed the finger at North Korea.<\/p>\n

However, many cyber-security experts have come forward to dispute this assertion.<\/p>\n

\n

The Interview screened at small US cinemas<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At the time, North Korea denied being behind the attack but described it as a “righteous deed”.<\/p>\n

The country subsequently suffered a severe internet outage.<\/p>\n

\"line\"<\/div>\n

The Interview saga<\/span><\/strong>The Interview features James Franco and Seth Rogen as two journalists who are granted an audience with Mr Kim. The CIA then enlists the pair to assassinate him.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • 22 November<\/strong>: Sony computer systems hacked, exposing embarrassing emails and personal details about stars<\/li>\n
  • 7 December<\/strong>: North Korea denies accusations that it is behind the cyber-attack, but praises it as a “righteous deed”<\/li>\n
  • 16 December<\/strong>: “Guardians of Peace” hacker group threatens 9\/11-type attack on cinemas showing film; New York premiere cancelled<\/li>\n
  • 17 December<\/strong>: Leading US cinema groups say they will not screen film; Sony cancels Christmas Day release<\/li>\n
  • 19 December<\/strong>: FBI concludes North Korea orchestrated hack; President Obama calls Sony cancellation “a mistake”<\/li>\n
  • 20 December<\/strong>: North Korea proposes joint inquiry with US into hacks, rejected by the US<\/li>\n
  • 22 December:<\/strong> North Korea suffers a severe internet outage; US authorities decline to comment<\/li>\n
  • 23 December: <\/strong>Sony bosses appear to change their minds, saying they will now give The Interview a limited Christmas Day release<\/li>\n
  • 25 December: <\/strong>The Interview is shown in some US cinemas and released online<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Source: BBC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    North Korea has condemned US President Barack Obama over the release of the film The Interview, about a fictional plot to kill its leader Kim Jong-un. The country’s National Defence Commission (NDC) also accused the US of shutting down the country’s internet – and used a racial slur to describe the “reckless” Mr Obama. Sony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":77546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,6],"class_list":["post-77545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-palaver-newspaper","tag-togbe-afede"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}