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 Washington's longstanding dispute with North Korea, which for
years has centered on its nuclear weapons program, has entered new
territory with the accusation that Pyongyang carried out an assault
on a major Hollywood entertainment company.
Obama and his advisers are weighing how to punish North Korea after
the FBI concluded on Friday that Pyongyang was responsible. North
Korea has denied it was to blame.
The U.S. president 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."
Obama said one option was to return North Korea to the U.S. list of
state sponsors of terrorism, from which Pyongyang was removed six
years ago.
North Korea vowed on Sunday to hit back against any U.S.
retaliation.
 "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," according to North Korea state news agency KCNA.
The hack attack and subsequent threats of violence against theaters
showing the film prompted Sony to withdraw a comedy, "The
Interview," prepared for release to movie theaters during the
holiday season. The movie depicts the fictional assassination of
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Obama and free speech advocates criticized the studio's decision,
but Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton defended it,
saying U.S. theaters did not want to show it.
Sony lawyer David Boies said the Hollywood studio planned to release
the movie at some point.
"Sony only delayed this," Boies said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on
Sunday. "It will be distributed. How it's going to be distributed, I
don't think anybody knows quite yet."
In the CNN interview, which was taped on Friday, Obama acknowledged
that in a digitized world "both state and non-state actors are going
to have the capacity to disrupt our lives in all sorts of ways."
"We have to do a much better job of guarding against that. We have
to treat it like we would treat, you know, the incidence of crime,
you know, in our countries."
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.
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Rogers said on "Fox News Sunday" the United States had the
capability to make it very hard for North Korea to launch another
similar attack, but that Obama waited too long to act.
"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."
North Korea has been subject to U.S. sanctions for more than 50
years, but they have had little effect on its human rights policies
or its development of nuclear weapons. Experts say the nation has
become expert in hiding its often criminal money-raising activities,
largely avoiding traditional banks.
NORTH KOREA DENIES ATTACK
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.
North Korea said on Saturday it was not involved in the Sony attack
and could prove it. Pyongyang said it wanted a joint investigation
into the incident with the United States.
Obama says North Korea appeared to have acted alone. Washington
began consultations with Japan, China, South Korea, Russia,
Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, seeking their
assistance in reining in North Korea.
U.S. experts say Obama's options in punishing North Korea could
include cyber-retaliation, financial sanctions, criminal indictments
against individuals implicated in the attack or even a boost in U.S.
military support to South Korea, which is still technically at war
with the North.
But the effect of any response would be limited, given North Korea's
isolation and the heavy sanctions already in place for its nuclear
program.
(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Diane Bartz in Washington;
Editing by Frances Kerry, Lisa Von Ahn and Diane Craft)
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