Ever since news broke about the Sony hack late last month, a great deal of speculation has pointed the finger at North Korea. The Asian nation has been very vocal about their disapproval of the upcoming Sony comedy The Interview, and many believe that the hack was motivated by the film's forthcoming release. If a new official statement can be believed, however, North Korea isn't actually the source of the attack - but that doesn't mean they're not very okay with it happening.
A government official has released a statement to North Korea's state-run news agency, KCNA, dening that North Korea had any part in the hack of Sony Pictures. Written in imperfect English, the piece says that the government has no awareness of even where Sony Pictures is located in America, and adds that they know nothing about the motivations behind the attack. With that on the record, it was then explained that they know exactly why people suspect North Korea, and that they support the hack as a "righteous deed." The statement reads:
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.We already called upon the world to turn out in the just struggle to put an end to U.S. imperialism, the chieftain of aggression and the worst human rights abuser that tramples down the universal rights of people to peaceful and stable life and violates the sovereignty of other countries, as well as its followers.The hacking into the SONY Pictures might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK in response to its appeal.
The piece goes on to talk about the alliance between the United States and South Korea, saying that the latter country has "groundlessly linked" the hack to North Korea, adding that they floated " the false rumor that the north was involved in the hacking that happened in the U.S., a country far across the ocean."
It remains unclear exactly what led to the Sony hack, but regardless of the reasoning it doesn't appear that the studio is going to be doing anything in regards to changing the release plan for Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's The Interview. In the movie, James Franco and Rogen play a celebrity journalist and his producer, respectively, who are invited by Kim Jong un to come to North Korea and interview him. When the United States government gets wind of this, the two men are tasked as CIA operatives responsible for assassinating the dictator. The film also stars Randall Park and Lizzy Caplan, and will be in theaters on Christmas Day.
