Pyongyang denies hacking attack on Sony Pictures

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea said on Sunday that it is not responsible for a recent crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, but suggested that it may have been the work of the nation's "supporters and sympathizers".

The Korean Central News Agency reported that the DPRK has "called on the world" to defend it from a forthcoming Sony Pictures Entertainment film, The Interview, which features a plot to assassinate DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un.

The country has described the film as an act of war.

In a statement on Sunday, Pyongyang denied responsibility for an attack last week that disrupted Sony's computer system and spewed confidential information onto the Internet.

An unidentified spokesman for the DPRK's National Defense Commission acknowledged that it "might be a righteous deed by the supporters and sympathizers" of the country's call for the world to turn out in a "just struggle" against the United States.

The latest hacking attack on the US movie studio is known to have included the leaking of sensitive personal information on about 47,000 individuals, including celebrities.

The attack also made unreleased Sony films available on illegal file-sharing websites.

"We do not know where in America 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 statement carried in state media said. "But what we clearly know is that Sony Pictures is the very one that was going to produce a film abetting a terrorist act while hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership" of the DPRK.

'Guardians of peace'

The Sony movie in question, The Interview, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, concerns an attempt on the life of Kim Jong-un.

Pyongyang is not amused.

The statement said the DPRK's enemies, the United States and the Republic of Korea, had "groundlessly linked the hacking attack with" Pyongyang, but the denial also included a threat.

The statement denounced Seoul, saying it "floated the false rumor that the DPRK was involved in the hacking".

The US should know that "there are a great number of supporters and sympathizers with (the DPRK) all over the world as well as the "guardians of peace who attacked Sony Pictures," the statement said. "The righteous reaction will get stronger to smash the evil doings."

AP - Reuters - AFP