WASHINGTON
North Korea's
alleged hack of Sony Pictures was not an act of war, President Barack
Obama said in an interview aired Sunday, as Pyongyang threatened
reprisals if targeted with sanctions.
Obama promised an
unspecified "proportionate" response, and said he would "review"
whether to return North Korea to the US list of state sponsors of
terrorism, after a six-year absence.
Republican critics
have accused North Korea of waging "cyber warfare" by targeting Sony,
urging the president to respond robustly to the crisis.
But
Obama shot back: "I don't think it was an act of war. I think it was an
act of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it
very seriously."
Speaking in a pre-taped interview on
CNN's "State of the Union," Obama emphasized that any change to North
Korea's status on the terror list could only happen after a careful
evaluation of the facts.
"We've got very clear criteria
as to what it means for a state to sponsor terrorism. And we don't make
those judgments just based on the news of the day," Obama said.
"We look systematically at what's been done and based on those facts, we'll make those determinations in the future."
'New form of warfare'
Obama faced fresh calls from Republican critics on Sunday to target North Korea with stiff sanctions.
"It's
more than vandalism, it's a new form of warfare that we're involved in
and we need to react and react vigorously, including reimposing
sanctions," said Senator John McCain, the incoming chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee.
Washington accuses
Pyongyang of being behind the hack that led to the release of
embarrassing company emails and caused Sony executives to halt the debut
of the madcap comedy action film "The Interview."
The
film about a fictional CIA plot to kill the country's leader infuriated
North Korea, although Pyongyang has repeatedly denied it was behind the
cyberassault on Sony.
North Korea has called for a
joint probe into the investigation with the United States into the
hacking — an offer swiftly rebuffed by security officials in Washington.
The hermit state threatened to hit back at the White House and other US targets if it was sanctioned over the alleged hacking.
The
North's National Defense Commission, in a statement on the official
news agency, said its army and people "are fully ready to stand in
confrontation with the US in all war spaces including cyber warfare
space to blow up those citadels."
"Our toughest
counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon
and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing
the 'symmetric counteraction' declared by Obama," it said.
The
North, which has in the past made statements threatening the US
mainland, accused the Obama administration of being "deeply involved" in
the making of the "The Interview" at the centre of the Sony hacking.
It
again praised the "righteous action" by the hacking group, which has
styled itself Guardians of Peace, but said it was unaware where they
were based.
The FBI has cited "significant overlap"
between the attack and other "malicious cyber-activity" with direct
links to Pyongyang, including an attack on South Korean banks blamed on
the North.
The North said it has never attempted or made a cyberattack on South Korea.
"It is common sense that the method of cyber warfare is almost similar worldwide," it added
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