Hackers demand Sony cancels movie about North Korean president

The group that claimed responsibility for the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack has demanded that the company cancel the release of The Interview, a comedy that depicts an assassination plot against North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

The film, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, is scheduled for release in the US and Canada on 25 December. The studio is holding advance screenings for media and others.

Up to now, even though speculation has been wide-spread that the hack is about The Interview, the hackers had not made mention of the movie.

A letter posted on a file-sharing site on Monday asked Sony to “stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War!”. The letter was signed by ‘Guardians of Peace (GOP)’, the group that claims to be responsible for a cyber-attack at Sony that began on 24 November.

Read more: Five Sony Pictures’ movies leak after major security breach

This news follows a statement by the North Korean government in which they denied any involvement in the hacking but held the action as a “righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers of North Korea”. With the hack group demanding the cancellation of The Interview, the link between the hack and North Korea appears truer than before even if it denies it.

Accompanying the letter were links to downloads of several gigabytes of new data purported to have been stolen from Sony.

In the letter, GOP, denied being involved in a threatening e-mail sent to Sony staff on Friday. That e-mail claimed to be from the group.

Sony is yet to reply to the letter.