Obama calls Sony hack an act of vandalism, not war

President Obama said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the hacking of Sony Pictures was an act of vandalism and not an act of war.

Obama told CNN’s “State of the Union with Candy Crowley” in an interview that was recorded on Friday: “I don’t think it was an act of war. I think it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it very seriously. We will respond proportionately, as I said.”

It is unclear as to what response will be forth coming, but one of the responses can be a return of North Korea to the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list, which automatically imposes certain sanctions on the country and restrictions on interaction with U.S. organizations.

Obama cannot make that decision, only the State Department can do that.

North Korea’s powerful National Defense Commission issued a statement that again denied any link with the Sony hack.

“The NDC of the DPRK highly estimates the righteous action taken by the “guardians of peace,” though it is not aware of their residence,” it said, using the official name of the country, The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

“Nothing is more serious miscalculation than guessing that just a single movie production company is the target of this counteraction. Our target is all the citadels of the U.S. imperialists who earned the bitterest grudge of all Koreans,” it said. “The army and people of the DPRK are fully ready to stand in confrontation with the U.S. in all war spaces including cyber warfare space to blow up those citadels.”