President Obama said that a proportional response was on the way, but in that North Korea has about 1,000 ISP addresses and no movie studio to embarrass, today’s sanctions against the nuclear nation for their role in The Interview Sony hacks seem as close as the U.S. can comfortably get to doling out some cold hard justice.
The United States is hitting North Korea with a new set of economic sanctions after determining the country was behind last month’s computer hack at Sony.
The White House said new rules would prevent leaders in North Korea’s government from accessing property and entering the United States. The isolated nuclear regime, which has denied involvement in the Sony hack, was already subject to a strict set of U.S. economic restrictions.
Though there was little thought that officials would back away from their initial findings, these sanctions do make it clear that the U.S. puts absolutely no weight into the theory that Lena Dunham was the mastermind behind the attacks or that it was an inside job.
As for the sanctions themselves, they’re built to steer clear of the already aching North Korean people while focusing on the nation’s leaders.
Among the agencies targeted by the new sanctions Friday was the Reconnaissance General Bureau, an intelligence agency the U.S. said was responsible for “major cyber operations” in North Korea.
The new sanctions also target officials at North Korea’s Mining Development Trading Corporation, which the U.S. says is responsible for the country’s arms dealing and weapons export business.
Seven officials who represent North Korea’s arms dealing trade in Africa, Iran, Russia and Syria were designated by the U.S. Treasury as subject to the new economic sanctions.
As of right now, it appears that Dennis Rodman will not be impacted by this round of sanctions for his role as a guy who once went to North Korea and maybe played basketball with Kim Jong Un back in the good old days when that was the biggest news coming out of North Korea.
How long that will hold true remains to be seen, but in all seriousness, White House Press Secretary and holder of an awesome name Josh Earnest did say that, “Today’s actions are the first aspect of our response.” So I’ll keep an eye out for what comes next. Unless it’s boring. Then… not so much.
Source: CNN
