Obama: North Korea hack on Sony Pictures was not an act of war

The US is reviewing whether to put North Korea back onto its list of state sponsors of terrorism, President Barack Obama said in a wide-ranging interview recorded on Friday and broadcast on Sunday, as he decides how to respond to the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures that has been blamed on the communist nation.

Speaking to CNN, Obama described the Sony hacking case as a “very costly, very expensive” example of cybervandalism, but did not call it an act of war. In trying to fashion a proportionate response, the president said the US would examine the facts to determine whether North Korea should be put back on the terrorism sponsors list.

“We’re going to review those through a process that’s already in place,” Obama said. “I’ll wait to review what the findings are.”

North Korea, meanwhile, threatened to hit back at the White House and other US targets if Washington sanctioned it for an alleged hacking attack. The country’s top military body, the National Defence Commission (NDC), again denied involvement in the hacking.

In a statement on the official news agency, the NDC 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.

Obama was speaking in a conversation with the State of the Union host, Candy Crowley, that was recorded on Friday. He also discussed this week’s announcement of a normalisation of relations with Cuba, saying the US now had an opportunity to influence a whole generation on the island.

Ironically, Cuba is one of the few nations still on the US list of state sponsors of terror. The others are Iran, Sudan and Syria. The list triggers sanctions that limit US aid, defence exports and certain financial transactions.

On Guantánamo Bay, from which four men were released to Afghanistan on Saturday, Obama said: “I’m going to be doing everything I can to close it. It is something that continues to inspire jihadists and extremists around the world, the fact that these folks are being held.

“It is contrary to our values and it is wildly expensive. We’re spending millions for each individual there. And we have drawn down the population there significantly.”

He also discussed Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who is currently presiding over a crisis in the rouble, which Obama called “the collapse of his currency, a major financial crisis and a huge economic contraction”, in saying he didn’t think Putin was the master in the US-Russia relationship.

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On Saturday, it was reported that the US was seeking China’s help in containing North Korea.

North Korea spent two decades on the state sponsors of terror list until the Bush administration removed it in 2008 during nuclear negotiations. Some lawmakers have called for the designation to be restored following the hack that ledSony to cancel the release of a big-budget film, The Interview, that North Korea found offensive.

But adding North Korea back could be difficult. To meet the criteria, the State Department must determine that a country has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, a definition that traditionally has referred to violent, physical attacks rather than hacking.

Obama also levelled fresh criticism against Sony over its decision to shelve The Interview, despite the company’s insistence that its hand was forced after movie theaters refused to show it. While professing sympathy for Sony’s situation, Obama suggested he might have been able to help address the problem if given the chance.

“You know, had they talked to me directly about this decision, I might have called the movie theater chains and distributors and asked them what that story was,” Obama said.

Sony’s CEO has disputed that the company never reached out, saying he spoke to a senior White House adviser about the situation before his company announced the decision. White House officials said Sony did discuss cybersecurity with the federal government, but that the White House was never consulted on the decision not to distribute the film.

“Sometimes this is a matter of setting a tone and being very clear that we’re not going to be intimidated by some, you know, cyberhackers,” Obama said. “And I expect all of us to remember that and operate on that basis going forward.”

North Korea has denied hacking the studio, and on Saturday proposed a joint investigation with the US to determine the true culprit. The White House rejected the idea and said it was confident North Korea was responsible.

But the next decision – how to respond – is hanging over the president as he vacations with his family in Hawaii. Obama’s options are limited. The US already has trade penalties in place and there is no appetite for military action.