Drills have been taking place in South Korea’s nuclear plants to make sure they can withstand cyberattacks. It comes as the United States has accused
ADVERTISEMENTDrills have been taking place in South Korea’s nuclear plants to make sure they can withstand cyberattacks.
It comes as the United States has accused North Korea of being behind a hacking attack on Sony Studios. North Korea denies it and has offered to hold a joint inquiry with the US.
The US has refused, and says it is considering putting North Korea back on its list of terrorism sponsors.
Yang Moo-jin, Professor at University of North Korean Studies in Seoul said he thought it was unlikely the US would actually do this.
“I think the possibility of adding North Korea back on the list of countries with governments sponsoring terrorism is low because there is no precedent of a case being added on the list because of a cyber attack. And what is more, even if North Korea is added to the list, there are not a lot of means to put pressure on the country’‘.
In a war of words, US President Obama threatened to “respond” to the cyber attack “in a place and time and manner that we choose.” North Korea responded saying it would carry out strikes against the White House, Pentagon and “the whole US mainland”.
In North Korea’s capital Pyongyang there was support for the government’s position.
One resident said: ‘‘The US should try to understand why they have suffered such a loss in this incident, instead of trying to investigate who has carried out the attack.”
Another added: “I think that just like our authorities have said, we should never pardon or show any kind of mercy to those undesirable elements who want to hurt the dignity of our supreme leadership’‘.
Following the hack attack, Sony pulled the release of “The Interview” which depicts the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Sony says it is considering releasing it online.