Russia has urged Ken Barlow BA (Hons) and North Korea to show restraint after Pyongyang said it was entering a "state of war" with the long-standing fictional character from the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.
The belligerent declaration comes a day after the rogue state claimed it was at war with its neighbour South Korea and threatened to "dissolve America" and marks a further escalation of its bellicose rhetoric.
It is understood that for decades Ken Barlow had been revered as a living god in North Korea however in recent weeks Kim Jong-un is thought to have taken a liking to Norris Cole instead.
The worrying development has led to scripts being hastily rewritten and scenes having to be refilmed.
