North Korea has denied hacking Sony Pictures’ computer systems in retaliation for its movie "The Interview," which revolves around a plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un. But the secretive state has called the crippling cyberattack a "righteous deed" and has suggested that its "supporters and sympathizers" might be taking revenge on its behalf.
The statement, issued Sunday by the official Korean Central News Agency, comes as investigators home in on the source of the attack, which brought Sony, one of Hollywood’s biggest studios, to a near-standstill just before Thanksgiving.
"We do not know where in America the Sony Pictures is situated and for what wrongdoings it became the target of the attack nor [do] we feel the need to know about it," the KCNA statement said.
"But what we clearly know is that the Sony Pictures is the very one which was going to produce a film abetting a terrorist act while hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK by taking advantage of the hostile policy of the U.S. administration towards the DPRK," it said, using the official acronym for North Korea.
Sony Pictures Entertainment is preparing to release "The Interview," a comedy in which James Franco and Seth Rogen play journalists who land a rare interview with Kim and are recruited by the CIA to take him out. The movie is to be released in the United States on Dec. 25.