US, North Korea fight Internet blame game

Exerts say both sides have reasons to accuse each other

By Yi Whan-woo

North Korea and the United States are engaged in a blame game over latest cyber attack on each side, after President Barack Obama accused the former of hacking Sony Pictures.

Both Pyongyang and Washington failed to present concrete evidence to the rest of the world in their criticism of each other for alleged hacking of their Internet connections and computer networks. According to experts, however, they both have “convincing reasons” to accuse each other.

“A series of cyber assaults against a country can only be made by governments or a similar size grouping,” said Shin In-kyun, the president of the Korea Defense Network, a military think tank. “I think Pyongyang’s claim is convincing that Washington was behind what crippled its Internet network.”

A number of Pyongyang’s state-controlled media outlets have been completely or partially blocked since Dec. 23 regardless of where their servers were located, according to Yonhap News Agency, Sunday.

The online propaganda outlets include Uriminzokkiri and Ryugyong, both of which run on respective servers in China. Others included Naenara, the country’s main portal site which could only be accessed intermittently. Its server is based in Berlin.

North Korea pointed finger at the U.S. It cited the fact the incident took place after U.S. President Barack Obama warned on Dec. 21 that Washington would take “proportional” measure against those who were responsible for the cyber attack on Sony Pictures.

In an announcement, Obama cited the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) conclusion on Dec. 19 that Pyongyang masterminded the hacking of Sony Pictures’ computer system in November. The reclusive state denounced the Hollywood film studio earlier for its film, “The Interview” that deals with the assassination of its leader, Kim Jong-un.

The U.S. did not come up with any response regarding the hacking of Pyongyang’s Internet network.

“The U.S. has neither admitted nor denied its involvement in the incident. And given from data I have collected, it means Washington has orchestrated the hacking against Pyongyang’s media,” said Kim Dae-young, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum (KODED). “At the same time, it’s worth buying into the conclusion of the FBI, which uses highly-sophisticated technology in detecting cyber crimes, that North Korea assaulted Sony Pictures in cyber space.”

Shin agreed, saying “no countries other than North Korea had a reason to hack the company that brought public attention for its film featuring Kim.”

The Internet outage in the regime is ongoing although the websites of its official mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), and the communist party’s official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, have been restored.

Pyongyang denounced Washington for what it called a “childish” attack.

“The U.S. is disrupting online operation of our media as if children were playing hide and seek,” the regime’s National Defense Commission (NDC) said in a message carried by the KNCA, Saturday.

Talking about Obama in a derogatory manner, the NDC also denounced him for playing a role in Sony Pictures’ release of “The Interview” on Christmas Day in selected theaters as well as online. The company made the decision after it faced criticism from the U.S. President and other filmmakers on its move to scrap its scheduled plan of releasing the film in the wake of the hacking and online threats.

“We highly doubt whether, Obama, a monkey from a tropical forest, would still call for freedom of expression if there was a film that dealt with a terror against him,” the NDC said.

It referred to the “The Interview,” as defamation against Kim.

The film deals with the assassination of Kim by two tabloid American journalists who are recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission after they land an interview with the North Korean dictator.

“Such a storyline violates international law that bans defamation of a country’s leader,” the NDC said. “It’s hypocritical that the U.S. provokes terror against a specific country while advocating anti-terrorism.”