Logo

NY Times

Obama Vows Response to North Korea Cyberattack, Calls Sony Decision a Mistake

Dec 19, 2014  •  Post A Comment

Criticizing Sony for its decision to pull the plug on “The Interview,” President Obama today said the United States “will respond proportionally” to the cyberattack by North Korea on Sony Pictures, The New York Times reports.

“Mr. Obama said the response would come ‘at a place and time we choose,’ but declined to be more specific about what it would be. He said that ‘we have been working out the range of options that will be presented to me,’” the story reports.

Obama’s comments came on the heels of an announcement from the FBI that it had evidence the government of North Korea was behind the cyberattack on Sony. The FBI revelation marked “the first time the United States has explicitly accused the leaders of a foreign nation of deliberately damaging American targets,” The Times reports.

Sony scrapped its planned release of “The Interview,” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, in response to threats this week against theaters showing the movie. The satirical comedy centers on an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“In criticizing Sony’s leadership for withdrawing the film, Mr. Obama argued that the precedent it set could be damaging — and that the United States could not give in to intimidation,” The Times reports. “He said that it would encourage other countries to sabotage documentaries, ‘or news reports they don’t like.’”

Obama aimed some of his remarks at North Korea, making the point that the country’s government was overly concerned about a Hollywood comedy.

“I think it says something about North Korea that it decided to mount an all-out attack about a satirical movie starring Seth Rogen,” Obama said.

the interview-movie-banner-2014

2 Comments

  1. A fitting response would be to see everyone in Time Square on new years eve at the stroke of midnight turn toward the North West and flip off Kim Jong-un.

  2. The national press are doing their very best to overlook Obama’s screw-up of Franco’s name, calling him James Flacco. Would have never happened had George Bush flubbed someone’s name.

Leave a Reply to Lindy Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)