North Korea has filed a protest with the United Nations against a U.S. movie featuring an assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, calling on the U.S. government to ban the release of the movie, a U.S. report said Wednesday.

In a letter sent to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on June 27, North Korean Ambassador to the U.N., Ja Song-nam, called the movie "The Interview" an insult to the North Korean leader, the Washington-based Voice of America said.

The action-comedy film, to be released in October, is about an American talk show host and a producer recruited by the U.S. government to assassinate the North Korean leader during their visit to the reclusive country.

Allowing the production and release of the movie about targeting a head of state is an explicit support for terrorism and an act of war, the letter said, calling on the U.S. government to ban the movie.

In the letter to the U.N., the North requested Ban adopt the North Korean statement in a general meeting and the security council, the radio report said.

Last month, the North's foreign ministry condemned the distribution of the movie as "the most undisguised terrorism" and threatened to take "a strong and merciless countermeasure" if the movie is released, without specifying what the countermeasure would entail. (Yonhap)