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 North Korea has denied it was to blame and has vowed to hit back
against any U.S. retaliation, threatening the White House and the
Pentagon. The hackers said they were incensed by a Sony comedy about
a fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which
the studio has pulled.
China made no reference to calls by the United States for joint
action with it and other countries to counter any similar
cyberattacks.
"Before making any conclusions there has to be a full (accounting
of) the facts and foundation," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua
Chunying said. "China will handle it in accordance with relevant
international and Chinese laws according to the facts."
She said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi "reaffirmed China's
relevant position, emphasizing China opposes all forms of
cyberattacks and cyber terrorism" in a conversation with U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday.
China is North Korea's only major ally, and would be central to any
U.S. efforts to crack down on the isolated state. But the United
States has also accused China of cyber spying in the past and a U.S.
official has said the attack on Sony could have used Chinese servers
to mask its origin.
South Korea, which is still technically at war with North Korea,
said computer systems at its nuclear plant operator had been hacked
and non-critical data stolen, but there was no risk to nuclear
installations or reactors.
"It's our judgment that the control system itself is designed in
such a way and there is no risk whatsoever," Chung Yang-ho, deputy
energy minister, told Reuters by telephone.
He made no mention of North Korea and could not verify messages
posted by a Twitter user claiming responsibility for the attacks and
demanding the shutdown of three aging nuclear reactors by Thursday.
U.S. President Barack Obama and his advisers are weighing how to
punish North Korea after the FBI concluded on Friday it was
responsible for the attack on Sony.
It was the first time the United States had directly accused another
country of a cyberattack of such magnitude on American soil and set
up the possibility of a new confrontation between Washington and
Pyongyang.
"SYMMETRIC COUNTERACTION"
North Korea's state news agency said it did not know who had hacked
Sony Pictures.
"We do not know who or where they are but we can surely say that
they are supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK," the KCNA news
agency said. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the
North's official name.
"Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White
House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of
terrorism, by far surpassing the 'symmetric counteraction' declared
by Obama," it said in a typically aggressive commentary.
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Japan, one of Washington's closest Asian allies, said it strongly
condemned the attack on Sony, but also stopped short of blaming
North Korea.
"Japan is maintaining close contact with the United States and
supporting their handling of this case," Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.
He did not answer when asked if Japan was convinced North Korea was
behind the cyber attack, but repeated that he saw no effect on talks
with North Korea over the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by
Pyongyang agents decades ago.
Obama put the hack in the context of a crime.
"No, I don't think it was an act of war," he told CNN's "State of
the Union" show that aired on Sunday. "I think it was an act of
cyber vandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it
very seriously. We will respond proportionately."
The hack attack and subsequent threats of violence against theaters
prompted Sony to withdraw the comedy, "The Interview," which had
been due for release during the holiday season.
Republican Senator John McCain disagreed with Obama, telling CNN the
attack was the manifestation of a new kind of warfare.
Republican Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, would not call the hacking an act of war.
But he did criticize Obama for embarking on a two-week vacation in
Hawaii on Friday without responding to the attack.
"You've just limited your ability to do something," Rogers said.
"I would argue you're going to have to ramp up sanctions. It needs
to be very serious. Remember - a nation-state was threatening
violence."
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Doina Chiacu and
Diane Bartz in Washington; and; Linda Sieg, Tetsushi Kajimoto and
Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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