North Korea Calls Seth Rogen and James Franco's Assassination Comedy 'Act of Terror'

North Korea is unamused by a new Hollywood comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen in a scheme to assassinate North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Un.

In The Interview, (see trailer below) Franco and Rogen play two celebrity journalists hired by the CIA to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after setting up an exclusive interview with the rotund dictator. The hilarious trailer for the film depicts Franco's character saying: "Want to go kill Kim Jong-un?"

"Totally, I'd love to assassinate Kim Jong-un - it's a date," Rogen's character replies.

But the surreal tone of the feature has failed to impress North Korea. The country's official KCNA news agency carried a response from the foreign ministry slamming the film as a "wanton act of terror", the work of "gangster moviemakers" which should never be shown.

In the statement, a foreign ministry spokesman also calls on the Obama administration to ban the film or face a "resolute and merciless response".

Earlier, the executive director of the Centre for North Korea - US Peace Myong-chol told The Telegraph that "there is a special irony in this storyline as it shows the desperation of the U.S. government and American society".

"A film about the assassination of a foreign leader mirrors what the US has done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine," he added. "And let us not forget who killed [President John F.] Kennedy – Americans. In fact, President Obama should be careful in case the US military wants to kill him as well.

The film is due to be released in the United States on 14 October.