North Korea denies hacking Sony over James Franco movie

North Korea has denied that it was behind a massive hack at Sony Pictures, which is set to release a comedy about a CIA plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A spokesman for the country’s National Defense Commission, speaking through the state-run KCNA news service, said the hack was a “righteous deed” that might have been carried out by “supporters and sympathizers” of the Asian nation.

{mosads}He said accusations that Pyongyang was behind the attack, however, are a “false rumor.”

“We do not know where in America the Sony Pictures is situated and for what wrongdoings it became the target of the attack nor we feel the need to know about it,” the spokesman said. 

However, “[t]he U.S. should also know that there are a great number of supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK all over the world as well as the ‘champions of peace’ who attacked the Sony Pictures,” the spokesman added, using an acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the nation’s formal name.

“The righteous reaction will get stronger to smash the evil doings.”

The massive cyberattack at Sony stole vast amounts of data about the film studio’s employees and leaked several unreleased blockbusters onto the Internet.

Many analysts had suggested that the attack could have come from North Korea, in retribution for an upcoming comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen. In “The Interview,” the two actors play TV executives asked by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean leader in the course of an interview.

The North Korean government had viciously attacked the film in the weeks ahead of the Sony hack.

In its statement on Sunday, the North Korean government accused the movie of “abetting a terrorist act” while also “hurting the dignity” of the North Korean leadership.  

Despite reports that Sony has been considering naming North Korea as the source of the attack, an internal company memo obtained by Re/code late on Sunday claimed that the company is still investigating.

The attack, the company said, was “an unparalleled and well planned crime, carried out by an organized group” for which no company “could have been fully prepared.”