SEOUL, South Korea (AP) —
North Korea on Saturday proposed a joint investigation with the U.S. into the
hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, warning of
"serious" consequences if Washington rejects a probe that it believes
will prove Pyongyang had nothing to do with the cyberattack.
The proposal was seen as a
typical ploy by the North to try to show that it is sincere, even though it
likely knows the U.S. would never accept its offer for a joint investigation,
analysts said.
U.S. officials blame North
Korea for the hacking, citing the tools used in the Sony attack and previous
hacks linked to the North, and have vowed a response. The break-in resulted in
the disclosure of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business
files, and escalated to terrorist threats that caused Sony to cancel the
Christmas Day release of the movie "The Interview." The comedy is
about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
On Saturday, an
unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang said North Korea knows how
to prove it's not responsible for the hacking, saying Washington is slandering
Pyongyang by spreading unfounded rumors.
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"The U.S. should bear
in mind that it will face serious consequences in case it rejects our proposal
for joint investigation and presses for what it called countermeasures while
finding fault with" North Korea, the spokesman said in a statement carried
by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA.
"We have a way to prove
that we have nothing to do with the case without resorting to torture, as what
the CIA does," he said, adding that the U.S. lacks any specific evidence
tying North Korea to the hacking.
Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at
Seoul's Dongguk University, called the North's proposal a "typical"
tactic the country has taken in similar disputes with rival countries. In 2010,
North Korea proposed a joint investigation after a South Korea-led
international team concluded that the North was behind a torpedo attack that killed
46 South Korean sailors, though Pyongyang denied its involvement. South Korea
rejected the North's offer for the joint probe.
"They are now talking
about a joint investigation because they think there is no conclusive
evidence," Koh said. "But the U.S. won't accede to a joint
investigation for the crime."
On Friday, President Barack
Obama declared that Sony "made a mistake" in shelving the satirical
film about a plot to assassinate the North Korean leader, and pledged that the
U.S. would respond "in a place and manner and time that we choose" to
the hacking attack on Sony that led to the movie's withdrawal.
"I wish they had
spoken to me first. ... We cannot have a society in which some dictator
someplace can start imposing censorship," Obama said at a year-end news
conference, speaking of executives at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Sony said it had had no
choice but to cancel distribution of the movie since theaters were refusing to
show it.
U.S. options for acting
against North Korea are limited. The U.S. already has severe trade sanctions in
place, and there is no appetite for military action. Even if investigators
could identify and prosecute the individual hackers believed responsible,
there's no guarantee that any located are overseas would ever see a U.S.
courtroom. Hacking back at North Korean targets by U.S. government experts
could encourage further attacks against American targets.
North Korea and the U.S.
remain in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an
armistice, not a peace treaty. The rivals also are locked in an international
standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programs and its alleged human
rights abuses.
Earlier Saturday, North
Korea angrily denounced a move by the United Nations to bring its human rights
record before the Security Council and renewed its threat to further bolster
its nuclear deterrent against what it called a hostile policy by the U.S. to
topple its ruling regime.
Pyongyang "vehemently
and categorically rejects" the resolution passed by the U.N. General
Assembly that could open the door for its leaders, including Kim Jong Un, to be
hauled before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity,
according to a Foreign Ministry statement carried by KCNA.
The Security Council is due
to meet Monday to discuss Pyongyang's human rights situation for the first
time.
The meeting caps almost a
year of international pressure, and even though ally China could use its veto
power to block any action against the North, the nonbinding resolution has
broad support in the General Assembly and has drawn unusually strong and
vitriolic protests from Pyongyang.
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Associated Press writer
Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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