North Korea hurls racist ‘monkey’ slur at Obama

North Korea compared President Obama to a “monkey” on Saturday and accused the U.S. of shutting down the country’s internet, amid the controversy over Sony Pictures’ comedy “The Interview.”

“Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest,” said a spokesman from North Korea’s National Defense Commission in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press.

{mosads}The official said Obama was behind the release of the film, which involves a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea has likened the film to an act of war and is believed to be connected to a massive cyber hack of Sony.

Pyongyang has denied involvement, but blamed the U.S. for internet outages that hit North Korea last week after the Obama administration vowed to respond to the hack.

“[T]he U.S., a big country, started disturbing the Internet operation of major media of the DPRK [North Korea], not knowing shame like children playing a tag,” said the spokesman.

The U.S. has not said whether it had any role in North Korea’s internet disruptions.

The racial insult to President Obama is only the latest provocation from Pyongyang in response to “The Interview.”

Sony initially canceled the film’s release being hacked and following threats from hackers to attack theaters that screened the satire. The FBI has accused North Korea of being behind the damaging attack.

After criticism from the public and the president, Sony went ahead with a limited release in 300 independent theaters on Christmas Day and online through video streaming websites.

The movie has already grossed $1 million in Christmas Day box office receipts.

North Korean officials have used racial slurs against the president before.

Earlier this year, the country’s state media described Obama as a “wicked black monkey.”

The White House slammed those comments as “ugly and disrespectful.”