North Korea has blasted the US President following the release of The Interview, which features a fictional plot to kill its leader Kim Jong-Un.

In a statement, the reclusive nation's National Defence Commission (NDC) described the president as a "monkey inhabiting a tropical forest".

The statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, accused Mr Obama of encouraging the release of the film, and threatened the United States with "inescapable deadly blows".

Shortly afterwards, the country suffered its second internet shutdown, just days after a similar outage.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua said: "At Pyongyang time 7.30pm (10.30am Irish time), North Korea's Internet and mobile 3G network came to a standstill, and had not returned to normal as of 9.30pm.

North Korea had blamed the US for shutting down its internet earlier this week - something the United States has denied.

The Interview was first screened on Christmas Day after Mr Obama and a number of high-profile Hollywood figures slammed Sony Pictures for pulling the film.

Sony had cancelled the film's release following a cyber attack and threats of violence against cinemas that chose to screen it.

Mr Obama accused North Korea of being responsible, warning that the US would respond "in a place and time and manner that we choose".

Pyongyang denied any involvement in the attack.

It went on to suffer internet blackouts, triggering speculation the US had launched a retaliatory attack.

"Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest," the NDC statement said.

"If the US persists in American-style arrogant, high-handed and gangster-like arbitrary practices despite (North Korea's) repeated warnings, the US should bear in mind that its failed political affairs will face inescapable deadly blows."

The statement once again condemned The Interview, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, as "a movie for agitating terrorism".

The film took in a million dollars after its limited release on Christmas Day when it was screened in some 300 largely independent theatres.

It was also released online for rental or purchase.

It is not the first time North Korea has resorted to crude insults to slam foreign leaders.

Earlier this year it called US Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous" lantern jaw and described South Korean President Park Geun-hye as a prostitute.

In May, it published a dispatch saying Obama had the "shape of a monkey".

Originally posted at 10.07am