Sony is still dealing with the fallout from a massive hacking attack last week. Early on, speculation was that the attack could be the work of North Korean agents, angry about The Interview, the Seth Rogen/James Franco film about a plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un. North Korea denied carrying out the attack, and later reports seemed to suggest an inside job, but the newest demand from the group calling itself “Guardians Of Peace #GOP” urging Sony to pull The Interview sure does sounds a lot like North Korea. Or at the very least, like someone trying really hard to sound like North Korea.
Here’s the latest note, broken by the Wall Street Journal:
Message to SONY
We have already given our clear demand to the management team of SONY, however, they have refused to accept.
It seems that you think everything will be well, if you find out the attacker, while no reacting to our demand.
We are sending you our warning again.
Do carry out our demand if you want to escape us.
And, Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War!
You, SONY & FBI, cannot find us.
We are perfect as much.
The destiny of SONY is totally up to the wise reaction & measure of SONY.
“Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War!” reeeeally sounds like North Korea, doesn’t it? While denying the attack three days ago, the DPRK’s propaganda wing noted that the attack “could be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers” of North Korea. And as far as I know, only North Koreans believe that there are supporters and sympathizers of North Korea.
“We do not know where in America the SONY Pictures is situated and for what wrongdoings it became the target of the attack,” read the statement. “But what we clearly know is that the SONY Pictures is the very one which was going to produce a film abetting a terrorist act while hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea].”
The hackers, whoever they might be, wink wink, keep urging Sony to “react to our demand.” Meanwhile, “an individual close to the studio” (according to Variety) claims that they haven’t even received any demands. Either way, whether this is the work of actual North Korean agents or just brilliant agents of chaos, the existence of The Interview has already provided far more entertainment than the movie itself could ever hope to. This truly is Poe’s Law in action. I only hope that these demands get more graphic and specific over the coming days.
“We demand that you curtail the movie featuring the Jew of great insolence and his homosexual life partner Imperialist dicknose. The provocations they unleash cannot be rescinded, and frankly their so-called ‘comedy’ grows stale. Oh look, a tongue-in-cheek ‘bromance’ scene followed by another transitional montage set to a popular hip hop song, like we have not seen that one before. One need not electricity more than three times a week to know that scene was old while Kim Il Sung The Great Leader was still alive. If you ask us and we were to respond freely, we would affirm that the Great Imperialist Satan should devote a greater share of its purloined riches towards acquiring some new jokes.”