North Korea issued a statement on its official state news agency on Saturday denouncing Sony Pictures Entertainment 's release of the movie `` The Interview . '' It called President Barack Obama the `` chief culprit '' who forced the production company to `` indiscriminately distribute '' the picture . The statement attributed to the National Defense Commission also denounced the United States for blaming North Korea for a hacking attack on the moviemaker earlier this month . `` If the U.S. is to persistently insist that the hacking attack was made by the DPRK , the U.S. should produce evidence without fail , though belatedly , '' the statement publish by KCNA said . In the screwball comedy , a tabloid journalist , who is granted an interview with the communist dictatorship 's leader , is asked to assassinate him . But when he arrives , a fictional version of dictator Kim Jong Un , played by actor Randall Park , charms him . In the end , the journalist confronts the fictional Kim over abuses in the country , and kills the leader , when the two do battle . Sony Pictures IT systems were hacked by a group calling itself `` Guardians of Peace '' or GoP , which complained about the pending release of the movie . The FBI has blamed North Korea for that cyberattack . Threats were also issued that there would be 9/11 style attacks on theaters that showed the film . The movie was not released as scheduled , and Sony Pictures later said film distributors had decided not to show the movie for security reasons . President Obama expressed disappointment over the move , saying free speech had not been upheld . Sony then arranged for direct distribution online via its own services , YouTube and through independent cinemas .
A statement called President Obama the `` chief culprit '' who forced distribution of the picture . North Korea 's defense commission denounced the U.S. for blaming a hack on the country . In the screwball comedy , a tabloid journalist is asked to assassinate Kim Jong-un . In the end , the leader dies doing battle with the journalist .