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North Korea Warns U.S. Over Film Mocking Its Leader Kim Jong-un Declares ‘War’ on ‘The Interview’
(about 14 hours later)
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Wednesday warned against the release of a Hollywood comedy about a plot to assassinate its leader, Kim Jong-un, calling the movie an “act of war.” SEOUL, South Korea — For years, one of the best kept secrets in North Korea was that the despotic and often virulently anti-American leader at the time, Kim Jong-il, appeared to be a closet fan of Hollywood blockbusters, especially James Bond films. His son, the nation’s current leader, may have picked up the bug, allowing the “Rocky” theme to be played at a special state concert.
Now, Hollywood may be testing the Kims’ improbable infatuation, as Columbia Pictures prepares to release a film — a comedy, no less — about a plot to assassinate the son, Kim Jong-un.
The North Koreans have reacted with their usual bluster, calling the movie an “act of war” and flinging threats at the Obama administration, which it implied had masterminded the film to undermine their nation.
“If the United States administration tacitly approves or supports the release of this film, we will take a decisive and merciless countermeasure,” a spokesman for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.“If the United States administration tacitly approves or supports the release of this film, we will take a decisive and merciless countermeasure,” a spokesman for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The spokesman did not elaborate on what North Korea’s retaliation might be. But he accused Washington of “provocative insanity” in mobilizing a “gangster filmmaker” to defile the country’s supreme leader, and reported “a gust of hatred and rage” among its citizens and soldiers. The spokesman did not elaborate, but said Washington was guilty of “provocative insanity” for mobilizing a “gangster filmmaker” to defile the country’s supreme leader. He also said the movie had inspired “a gust of hatred and rage” among the North’s citizens and soldiers.
In “The Interview,” a Columbia Pictures movie scheduled to be released in October, James Franco plays a talk-show host and Seth Rogen his producer. The two pals head out to North Korea for the assignment of a lifetime: an exclusive interview with Kim Jong-un, who in real life is the young dictator of a country that often threatens to fire nuclear missiles at Washington and its “pimp” President Obama. To be fair, most foreign leaders would not be thrilled to be the target of a fictional assassination plot. But North Korea is also known to be historically thin-skinned, especially when it comes to the Kims, who have cultivated a cult of personality that analysts say has helped the family pass the torch from father to son twice despite the country’s Communist underpinnings.
According to the plotline, the Central Intelligence Agency then drafts them to kill Mr. Kim. It does not help that many Westerners find the Kim family not only menacing — they do, after all, have a small nuclear stockpile — but also an easy target for humor. Among the sources of Western belly laughs are the Kims’ hairstyles (the father had a bouffant, while the son wears his shaved on the sides and poofy on top in what appears to be an attempt to mimic his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the nation’s founder.)
In the film’s trailer, a C.I.A. analyst briefs the duo on North Korea and Mr. Kim: “You are entering into the most dangerous country on Earth. Kim Jong-un’s people believe anything he tells them, including that he can speak to dolphins or he doesn’t urinate or defecate.” A men’s hair salon in London recently provoked anger in Pyongyang by advertising 15 percent discounts using a poster of Mr. Kim with the words “Bad Hair Day?” Officials from the North Korean Embassy visited the salon, M&M Hair Academy, demanding to know who was responsible, British newspapers said, and an official letter of protest was sent to the Foreign Office.
In real life, the totalitarian regime does try to ensure that Mr. Kim — like his father and his grandfather, who ruled before him — is revered as a godlike figure among his impoverished people. The creators of “South Park” parodied Mr. Kim’s father in the 2004 movie, “Team America: World Police,” with an animated version of the leader singing about how lonely and misunderstood he was, even as it portrayed him walking past prisoners being tortured.
The government lashes out at any hint of criticism or ridicule from the outside, reserving its harshest language for those who belittle Mr. Kim. With no independent press of its own, North Korea often claims that foreign news media and human rights activists who criticize Pyongyang do so at the behest of their governments. It regularly warns that it will bomb Seoul, the South Korean capital, including newspaper offices and television stations there, unless they stop publishing articles mocking its leadership. The movie causing the latest backlash is “The Interview,” scheduled to be released in October, in which James Franco plays a talk-show host and Seth Rogen his producer. The two friends head to North Korea for the assignment of a lifetime: an exclusive interview with Kim Jong-un. According to the plotline, the Central Intelligence Agency then drafts them to kill Mr. Kim.
The Hollywood comedy has flown directly into that personality cult. In the film’s trailer, a C.I.A. analyst briefs the duo on North Korea and Mr. Kim: “You are entering into the most dangerous country on earth. Kim Jong-un’s people believe anything he tells them, including that he can speak to dolphins or he doesn’t urinate or defecate.”
It “is the most blatant act of terrorism and an act of war that we will never tolerate,” the North Korean statement said on Wednesday. That may be going too far, though acolytes of the Kims have often imbued them with superhuman qualities. They have claimed, for example, that Kim Jong-il could bring down an American spy satellite by picking up a rock and hurling it skyward, according to defectors from the country. A spokesman for Mr. Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the writers, directors and producers of “The Interview,” declined to comment on North Korea’s reaction, as did Charles Sipkins, a spokesman for Sony Pictures, which owns Columbia.
As if the producers of the film had anticipated such a reaction, their publicity poster shows North Korean tanks and missiles with a sign that says: “War will begin!” It is not the first time that the American movie industry has irritated other nations. The government of Kazakhstan denounced the 2006 film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” and threatened to sue over its parody of the country. Kazakh officials later credited the film with boosting tourism and raising the country’s profile.
The poster also says in Korean: “Don’t believe these ignorant Yankees!” It is unlikely North Korea will come around anytime soon. Its statement called “The Interview” “the most blatant act of terrorism and an act of war that we will never tolerate.”
Kim Jong-il, Mr. Kim’s father, was said to have been a great fan and collector of Hollywood movies, especially the James Bond series. The elder Kim, whose love of films once led his spy agents to kidnap a South Korean movie director and his actress wife and bring them to Pyongyang, used films as a tool of propaganda.
He even wrote a book called “On the Art of Cinema.”
There are signs that Mr. Kim inherited his father’s taste for Hollywood movies. In 2012, North Korean state television showed him giving the thumbs-up to a girl band singing the theme song from “Rocky” during a concert that also featured Mickey Mouse.
In recent years, however, North Korea and its leaders have increasingly been the butt of jokes in American pop culture. Mr. Kim’s father was parodied in “Team America,” a hit comedy made by the creators of “South Park.” A 2002 James Bond movie, “Die Another Day,” also cast North Korea as a country of villains.