North Korea threatens war over US film

North Korea has promised a "merciless" response against the US unless it bans a Hollywood film about killing Kim Jong-un.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in state media the movie's release would be an "act of war".

The unidentified official did not mention the title but commentators agree he was referring to an action-comedy film titled The Interview starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, which is due for release in the US in October.

Franco and Rogen play TV journalists who are invited to interview the North Korean despot — and then recruited by the CIA to assassinate him.

The foreign ministry spokesman scolded the film's producers as gangsters and described its release as "reckless US provocative insanity".

The official said the film had sparked "a gust of hatred and rage" among North Korean citizens and soldiers — even though ordinary North Koreans are probably unaware of its existence and will never have the chance to see it, The Guardian reports.

"Making and releasing a movie on a plot to hurt our top-level leadership is the most blatant act of terrorism and war and will absolutely not be tolerated," the spokesman was quoted as saying by the state KCNA news agency.

"If the US administration allows and defends the showing of the film, a merciless counter-measure will be taken."

A trailer for the film, posted on YouTube and viewed more than four million times, shows a lookalike actor played Kim Jong-un. It also depicts flight scenes involving North Korean tanks and a missile launch.