Obama sanctions North Korea for movie hacking

WASHINGTON — President Obama signed an executive order Friday imposing new sanctions against North Korea in retaliation for that nation's suspected role in cyber attacks and threats against the movie industry.

In signing the new sanctions order from his vacation home in Hawaii, Obama cited "the provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies of the Government of North Korea, including its destructive, coercive cyber-related actions during November and December 2014."

Sony was the distributor of The Interview, a satirical comedy that involving a plot to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. The studio received threats saying that theaters showing the film would be attacked. Sony initially canceled the premiere of the film, but later changed its mind. It is now available in certain theaters and online. Sony declined to comment on the sanctions Friday.

"Even as the FBI continues its investigation into the cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, these steps underscore that we will employ a broad set of tools to defend U.S. businesses and citizens," said Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. North Korea has denied any involvement in the hacking of Sony.

The United States has used sanctions against countries that have cracked down on internal dissent on the Internet, but this is the first time a country has been sanctioned for a cyber attack against U.S. business interests.

The new measures come on top of previous sanctions designed to punish North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. Indeed, three of the North Korean entities sanctioned Friday were already on the Treasury Department sanctions list: the spy agency Reconnaissance General Bureau, arms dealer Korea Mining Development Trading Corp. and defense research arm Korea Tangun Trading Corp.

In addition, 10 individuals — including North Korean agents operating in Namibia, Russia, Iran, Syria and China — were added to the list. Those sanctions go into effect immediately.

The Treasury Department would not publicly comment on whether it believed the targets of the sanctions had any direct involvement in the Sony hacking.

Indeed, the executive order is written so broadly that it can be used against any official or agent of the North Korean government, its ruling Korean Workers' Party, or anyone inside or outside of Korea who provides support to the regime. The sanctions allow the Treasury Department to block their assets or deny them entry into the United States.

There was no immediate response from North Korea, which has suffered its own Internet outages in recent days. The last story published by the party-controlled news agency reported Kim's visits to newly built vegetable greenhouses.

The White House had been threatening action for two weeks, with Obama telling reporters at an end-of-year news conference, "We will respond proportionally, and we'll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose."

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the sanctions were only "the first aspect of our response."