N Korea Escalates Kim Jong-Un Hair Poster Row

North Korean diplomats have asked the British government to step in after a London hairdresser used an image of the secretive regime's leader in a promotion for cheaper hair cuts.

The poster displayed in the window at M&M Hair Academy in South Ealing, west London, featured an image of Kim Jong-Un and his distinctive hairstyle alongside the words "Bad Hair Day?".

Staff at the salon said on Tuesday that two men claiming to be North Korean officials had confronted the owner over the poster, while police told Sky News that they had refused a call to investigate the matter from London's North Korean Embassy.

But the Foreign Office has now revealed that it also received an objection to the promotion from the North Korean embassy.

Sky News understands the official letter urged the British Government to take "necessary action to stop the provocation".

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We have received a letter from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Embassy and will be responding in due course."

Hairdresser Karim Nabbach previously told Sky News that the two men who visited the salon to complain did not have official identification and demanded to speak to his father Mo, who runs the business.

"They didn't introduce themselves and demanded to speak to the manager," he said.

"They told him 'we want your name'."

Since their visit, the poster - which offered a month-long discount on men's haircuts - has been taken down.

The Metropolitan Police said officers had spoken to both parties after a complaint was made by the North Korean embassy, but had determined that "no offence has been disclosed".

The North Korean embassy is just 10 minutes' walk from the shop in nearby Gunnersbury Avenue.

Last month, it was reported that male university students in North Korea were told they would be required to have identical haircuts to Kim Jong-Un.