in north korea. as the first panel of our 2014 wilson center washington forum, let me just, before i turn the mic over to the chair of the session, say how deeply grateful we are to the university and the institute for far eastern studies, as well as the university of north korean studies for the partnership that we've had for now 80 years. we started this in 2006. on a very small basis. and this has grown into really a flourishing partnership on the history of our relationship. but also well beyond that, on the political relevance of the materials and the history that we've been uncovering. i think it's one of the things that sets the wilson center's korea programming apart, is that we have had for these many years a steadfast partner in kim yung university. we're consulting on really a weekly basis with our partners on activities, on conferences and publications. and i hope many of you will take advantage of some of the materials that are on the table outside. really at the heart of this relationsh

i am not exclusively but have specialized in north korea on and specialized in north korea on and offsince the early 90s. a lot of times -- i got my start in journalism in tokyo if you are working for a news agency in japan in the 90s before south korea relaxed some of its policies, you were kind of the de facto pulse taker because it was illegal to monitor it and south korea under the -- it still is. is. okay. they tended to under the sunshine policy error, in other words, in any case, reuters, we shifted our north korea pending operations from tokyo to seoul right around the time of the sunshine policy. it was always before that very cumbersome because you would have in addition to whatever you did in japan in your coverage whether it be military or political, social, you always had to keep an eye on the pulse of something were to happen. one of the things that happened on my watch and tokyo was the death of the first founding leader. that was before the internet. we were kind of one of the voices. you chose your words carefully because you were one of the world's views on north kor

north korea denied it was a source of a hack. south korea beefed up its own cyberforces declaring the online war as dangerous as pyongyang's ambitions. it wages its parallel war in cyberspace led by a young man of the internet age, ushering -- while we're waiting for that official acknowledgement here in south korea, there's little doubt who is responsible, at least that's the general consensus. they have moved, wolf, to now wondering what is next. wolf? >> we probably will find out sooner rather than later. thanks very much, kyung lah reporting from seoul, south korea. joining me now is ed royce. mr. chairman, thanks very much for joining us. is it confirmed, in your mind, that north korea is responsible for this cyberattack? >> yes. >> no doubt in your mind that it was north korea? >> it's no doubt in my mind that they began the attack. there's no question that they began the attack. >> when you say "others," another government or individuals who were hired, subcontractors, if you will, but the organization of this, the plot was

>> of north korea. country that doesn't have a lot of resources or money, but they're spending it on building basically signer attackers who previously had been specializing in attacks on south korea. this is the first time we see this coming against an american country. the scary thing is, you know, that they can do this against a movie studio, imagine if they did this against a bank or major financial institution in the united states, what the repercussions would be. >> we spoke to the assistant attorney general for national security here in "the situation room" the other day. he said boldly that if, in fact, this was a regime, a country, maybe 90% of all u.s. companies out there are vulnerable to this kind of attack. >> you have a country, they test missiles, they go 500 miles and go off course. he doesn't have enough nuclear weapons to threaten the united states. but if they have grade-one hackers that can penetrate any computer network out there, it puts him on par with a country like ours. >> jeffr

yes, north korea ups the ante claiming the u.s. government was involved in making that movie "the interview" and threatening an even worse cyber attack. >> happy holidays to you. >> and an exclusive interview with president obama. nothing is off limits. how will the white house respond to north korea's escalating threats? hear it all right now. you're in the cnn newsroom. good afternoon, everyone. i'm randy kay in today for fredericka whitfield. we begin this hour in new york. a stunning ambush in broad daylight. two police officers murdered, shot and killed in their police cruiser. today new york is in shock. newspapers calling it an execution and tensions are mounting between police and the city's leadership. we are covering every angle of this story, including an interview with former new york mayor rude where i juliany. alexander field is in new york. erin mcpike is in baltimore where police say the suspect shot his ex-girlfriend, and michelle kazinski has the reaction from the president and his administration from hawaii for u

he said north korea and north korea aloneau

how did north korea, according to the federal government, north korea hack into a multibillion-dollarompany's computers and spark all of this lunacy? we'll show you how next. >>> also in the pop culture lead today -- >> folks, if this is your first time tuning in to "the colbert report," i have terrible news. >> all the highlights from the final "colbert report" and my interview with the only man who can bring willsie nelson and cookie monster on stage together. don't settle for 4g lte coverage that's smaller or less reliable when only one network is america's largest and most reliable 4g lte network: verizon. with xlte, our 4g lte bandwidth has doubled in over 400 cities. and now, save without settling. get 2 lines with 10gb of data for just $110... ...or 4 lines for just $140. and get a $150 bill credit for each smartphone you switch. only on verizon. female announcer: sleep train's ends sunday.e for 3 event! it's your last chance to get three years interest-free financing on beautyrest black, stearns & foster, serta icomfort, even tempur-pedic. plus, get free delivery, and sleep tr

the white house maintains north korea acted alone. >> we've got no indication north korea was actingn con juchx with another country. >> north korea denies hacking sony but if pong pang pulled this off without any outside help it would be the greatest success for their shadowy hacking group called bureau 1231. >> frankly, north korea probably doesn't need the help. they've been investing in herr cybercapabilities very heavily and they've had a couple of trial runs on south korean media and banks. >> one bank points to key reasons why other governments may not have helped north korea with the sony attack. he says most governments wouldn't be foolish enough to hand any kind of attack tools to north korea given their erratic behavior. brian todd, cnn, washington. >>> he was the youngest person ever executed in the united states and now this young boy's murder conviction is thrown out. up next, what led to his case being reviewed and why some are still convinced he did it. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told

north korea in universe of north korean studies. and then after having studied north korea in theory i can find methodologies and need to make lots of contents why preserving the principles of the journalism. so i will just briefly give the title, 10 title, maybe helpful for you all. one is the basics. crosscheck, cross checked, crosscheck. when we crosscheck the information, we can get more information in doing so. and the second, major -- summit from north korea. for example, we can make a -- with the data north korea offe offers. the third, contact north korea directly, like jean. then we have to -- [inaudible] from the society of academia, social sciences or something like that. and the fifth, fact finding. the woodrow wilson center, niku project was in this document. and six, making short work of intellectual -- summit and seventh, making international sources. that is why i in here as a correspondent, washington correspondent for two years. eighth, a newsgathering in the propaganda image from north korea. yeah, we can find som

kim jong-un hair cut being ordered across north korea. now bbc their monitoring service picked that up and gave it a lot of credence by saying in south korea media or south korea media and the problem is that it's maybe they won't use anonymous sources themselves but happily quote whichever outlet it is and republish that and say south korean media said. it seems to me a way for the journalist in question who was putting it together, all the editors to basically washed their hands of responsibility because they can just say well we just transmitting this from another outlet. >> definitely a fair criticism and that's why it takes a good degree of knowledge of what's what within a media. there's a quality press in south korea and then there's the more fast and loose types. >> on the question of attribution and jean you raised, what are the standards in the south korean press typically? do you quote from anonymous sources and how do you verify the credibility of these sources where, again, with this report about kim jong-li dying while on the

the fbi lends north korea did it for her north korea says they did not do it. other groups say they did it. so i want more evidence to it i want to be 100% sure that north korea did this. until i see the evidence, i am not buying it. thanks. host: the fbi, on friday, announcing that north korea was officially responsible for that that coming from the fbi here in washington, d.c. president obama saying after that announcement was made by the fbi that we cannot have a society in which some dictators opposing censorship here in the united states because somebody can intimidate us out of the releasing of a satirical movie. imagine what they start doing if they see a documentary or a news report they do not like. that is not who we are. that is not what america is about. that was president obama friday at his end of the year news conference. evelyn in west virginia, our line for independents. caller: yes, i have a question, actually. my question/comment is -- why should anyone political criticize sony for not releasing after benghazi happened, if you remember, every

cyber crime costs the internet in north korea is experiencing severe technical problems. one computer security expert in the u.s. describes the north korean system as totally down. when are governments, allies, and defenders of private business, when do governments seek protection of private entities as part of their own interests and why. we'll look at the action and reaction of those who pick the locks on sony's electronic front doors. joining us, ceo of global cyber risk, a cyber risk management firm. and chris hill, and alan friedman, a research scientist at george washington university. jodie, with such high profile breaches just in the past several months is there an explicit or implicit responsibility of government to help shore up corporate defenses? >> well, the government should not be shoring up in the sense that we don't need the government inside the companies building their security programs. but we do need the oh government to have effective law enforcement, and to conduct effective international investigations and provide resources to help facilitate the re

>> naming and shaming north korea. it's a step that you have all the evidence now but haven't taken the step of publicly calling them out. it's something that took them years to do, frankly, john, with china with cyber attacks on u.s. companies in the government. multiple times for years and took them a number of years before publicly called them out. that's a first step. if they're able to determine who the actual hackers are by name and id, they could take a step again they took against an elite group of chinese hackers of filing charges against them. you're not going to take them into court, they're on the other side of the ocean but you could file charges publicly. but in the near term, raise the economic costs for north korea, tighten economic sanctions on the country. i'll tell you the most powerful one they could do is go after their access to dollar-denominated trade. this is north korea's lifeline to the outside world and by squeezing chinese banks that do business with north korea, you could exact an economic

he said north korea and north korea alone launched a devastating attack on sony pictures and vowed to respond but stopped short of saying what and when that would be, only that he would do it at a place and time of his manner. but his harshest marks were not about north korea. it was more about sony. >> sony is an organization. i'm sympathetic to the concerns they have faced. having said all of that, yes, i think they made a mistake. we cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the united states. because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they don't like. >> it is a fair point. and that is pretty blunt. the president of the united states coming out. if you are sony pictures, coming out and saying you made a mistake. that is not mincing words. well ceo from sony michael lynton replied. >> i don't know exactly whether he understand the sequence of events to the movies not being shown in the movie theaters and therefore i would disagre

also, there are new developments involving north korea. guess what? north korea's internet is down. who's responsible for that? we've got new information coming into "the situation room." it's more than the driver. it's more than the car. for lotus f1 team, the competitive edge is the cloud. powered by microsoft dynamics, azure, and office 365, the team can gain real time insights and instantly share information around the globe. when every millisecond counts, staying competitive begins with the cloud. this is the microsoft cloud. >>> we continue to follow the breaking news in new york city where the mayor, bill de blasio, is asking people to put aside protests until after the funerals of the two police officers who were brutally killed over the weekend. but we're also following reports that north korea's internet system all of a sudden collapsed today. the reports come as the state department put new pressure on north korea to admit that it was behind the cyber attack on sony pictures. let's bring in our global affairs correspondent, elise labott, who's working this story for us. w

those stories have circulated in north korea, itself. so right now the north koreans don't view their kim family as deities anymore. but it is clearly, in the 1940's and 1950's they certainly did. host: lake station, indiana, thanks for holding. you're on with gordon chang. caller: yes. thank you for taking my call. i just have a couple questions the first one being if the guest could answer this, what is the north koreans' true capability to carry out their threat of physical attacks here in america, essentially asking if exit lags to the threats was warranted by sony i guess. may other question is in terms of north korea's population, is there really much of a rebellion, not rebellion, sorry, you know, what am i lacking for? guest: there is very little resistance to kim rule. i think people don't like the kims. at one time they loved him. now i don't think so. i think they just tolerate the kim regime. as i mentioned, they don't have the means to resist. they don't buy into the myths, mythology of the kim family anymore. if they get a c

why isn't north korea blaming over the internet outage in north korea. t proof it is not the united states doing it? >> i think the north koreans who are conspiracy minded any way, think the same thing is true for the good friends in this, the chinese. it may well not be us. but if it isn't, it doesn't matter what is true. what matters is what the chinese and the north koreans think and they are very, very focused on blaming the world's problems on us. >> and this question about north korea and how fragile the internet is, and one of the poorest in the world and they believe their leader is a god and something we haven't seen in the western world for a long time. who in north korea has the access, when you look at the 1,024, who are those people. >> the kim family and seniors and generals and admirals and those in security. so it is a layered group. the north korean regime is the four groups. the kim family, the security services the party and the military. at the top level of all of those you'll have people with unrestricted internet access. >> unrestric

. >> the united states is accusing north korea of hacking into sony pictures prompting sony to withdraw its comedy, "the interview," about fictional assassination of north korean leader kim jong-un. as the u.s. is now considering putting north korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, many cyber experts question if north korea could have pulled off the massive hacking operation. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. new york city is grappling with the aftermath of the first targeted killings of police officers in years. officers wenjian liu and rafael ramos were ambushed in broad daylight while sitting in their patrol car in brooklyn on saturday. the shooter, 28-year-old ismaaiyl brinsley, fled to a nearby subway station where he turned the gun on himself. shotg from a single gun wound. earlier in the day, brinsley had shot his former girlfriend in maryland. he later used her instagram account to make anti-police statements suggesting he would kill officers to avenge the deaths of eric garner and

going to do if it is, in fact, north korea that did this?an't imagine there's much left to sanctions. >> we do already have sanctions in place due to their human rights violations. we have issues being discussed by the national security team. i'm not going to outline it here but i'm sure we'll talk about it once a conclusion has been made. >> jen psaki, thank you and happy holidays to you. >> thanks, jake. you, too. >>> can anyone really prevent a cyberattack like the one that took place at sony. should the u.s. government being responsible for protecting your information online, even if it's at private companies? maybe the company you work for should take a more proactive approach. the plan in the works to defend your information against hackers. that's next. hello... i'm an idaho potato farmer and our big idaho potato truck is still missing. so my buddy here is going to help me find it. here we go. woo who, woah, woah, woah. it's out there somewhere spreading the word about americas favorite potatoes: heart healthy idaho potatoes and the a

close neighbors of north korea. chinese more concern that it may be to achieve nuclear arm race. the challenge is more determined, we are equally determined as south korea and as the united states to de-nuclearize north korea. i think to not is detrimental because look at chinese periphery. our relation with neighbors have been improving a lot. the only problem around chinese neighbor is north korea nuclear issue. we do not have to guarantee peace and stability. it is not in chinese interest. >> thank you very much. maybe you can respond to the question that is addressed to you. supposed to work. >> so thanks for question for me. south china sea strategy, of course, is a very controversial subject of controversial issue. so then i see some sort of main components of the strategy is easily identified. first is beijing would like to -- some sort of claim to rocks in the islands. yes some would say it's not -- i think there is a strong urgeance for -- the controversy of [ inaudible ] so on the other hand [ inaudible ] s

very well could be done by north korea itself. ou: to your point, bruce, last night talking with ambassador bill richardson who knows as much about korea than any politician in this country, in my opinion, he was surprised that the extent of their capability in cyber warfare. and when he's surprised, you know, it's -- it's impressive. it's also disturbing that our officials have -- have no real rejoinder or strategy or apparent path to respond to this attack. >> exactly. i'm concerned that as part of the part earn with presidenpattern withpresidl see firm rhetoric pledging to do something proportional and strong to north korea, and then not carry through with actions. we've seen that with sanctions on north korea. north korea is not the most heavily sanctioned country in the world. the us has done a number of things to iran, syria, even zimbabwe, they all did pervasive stronger sanctions against iran than north korea, even though north korea popped nuclear weapons and said its nuclear program is for military purposes. lou: we know

maybe in conjunction with china, but it could be done by north korea itself. >> to your point, bruce,ght in talking with ambassador bill richardson who knows as much about korea as any politician in this country in my opinion, he was surprised at the extent of their capability in cyber warfare. when he is surprised, it is impressive. it is also disturbing that our officials have no real rejoinder or strategy or apparent path to respond to this attack. >> exactly. i'm concerned as part of the pattern with president obama we're going to see a firm resolute rhetoric pledging to do something proportional and strong to north korea and not carry through with actions. we have seen that with sanctions on north korea. the u.s. has done a number of things to iran syria, burma, and zimbabwe that we have not done to north korea. north korea is the one who has popped nuclear weapons and say that its nuclear program is for military purposes. >> we know the unit 121 during the 1990s was working on sending groups four teams, of covert special operations forces to this country, specifically to attack

is some kind of a relationship between korea and north korea. so we are thinking but will south korea do in the world that they are not playing in this area so another important relationship in this area or feature of the relationship in this area is we see south korea has developed a very substantial relationship and south korea was with china and more than the trade volume with both the united states and japan. but at the same time, south korea developed a very close relationship with the united states. they tell me there were two reasons that the ambassador discussed and the other reason someone told me that they tried to curb the analysis from participating. and another example is that in this year south korea was supposed to go to participate in the show and they said no you cannot go because you have to high-tech fighters but this shows that it's in a different position and on the one hand it develops relations with china on the other hand there was is a big political barrier that shows it's different from the other countries and the other

north korea on the course. and a fox news analyst and a lot of blow back and push back dealing with the sony hack. and the first time we are hit in a massive cyber attack by a foreign country. >> it is a major blow against free speech. the company was under pressure after threats of violence and all of the hollywood hot shots attacking sony for letting north korea dictate. and i don't know what the president will say about that. he will have to address the question of cyber security not only on the government's part and officials of the state were consulted by sony on the movie and they told them to go ahead. no problem. you are dealing with your grid and computer system and electricity and every infrastructure in the country that is vulnerable if north korea carried it out. >> we know that every company in our organization could be vulnerable. not only embarrassing e-mails but shut down. and that is on the front burner and look at media coverage of president obama. up to and encluding and mr. obama took air on

government today officially pointed the finger at north korea, blaming the country for hacking in to sony pictures entertainment. in a statement the fbi, quote, had enough information to conclude that the north korean government is responsible for these actions. well, as almost everyone knows by now those actions exposed tens of thousands of private sony e-mails. the hackers also threatened violence against theaters, which led sony to cancel the release of the interview. that's the comedy about the assassination of kim jong-un. and president obama said that sony made a mistake in canceling the movie. he said that the united states would respond to north korea, but he did not say how or when. for more we go to randall pinkston. >> reporter: jen, the fbi said that other corporations have suffered from cyber intrusions, but nothing like what happened to sony last month. the fbi said that all of the evidence points at pyongyang. they say they're considering options and president obama promises action. >> president obama put north korea on notice. the u.s. will strike back for the cyberatt

and we have to remember, this is not just north korea. the north koreans used chinese internet protocol addresses in china and they routed it through china and there are north korean hackers who are more or less based in china. it is not just a north korea issue, this is a china issue as well. >> and this is something that could change the concept of war for everyone. when you look at the number -- the over all number of yahoo finance and sony corporation, over all $76 billion and the entire size of the north korea economy was $40 billion. so you are looking at a david now able to bring down a goliath. >> we've been talking about this for years. it is an asymmetrical event when you have countries able to wage war in the domestic united states, cutting companies off and dismantling critical infrastructure that is is a huge threat. we have not given it enough attention in this country and we have to now. >> what can the u.s. do to north korea on the cyber front that will crush them. unless it is shutting down their nuclear reactors, they don

he's been sending balloons with anti-north korea propaganda from south korea for many years. the plan to float the politically sensitive film into the country is being funded by the human rights foundation in new york. but the movie hasn't been released on any format yet. >>> we have this just in to cnn after an eight-year ban on capital punishment, jordan has executed 11 convicted criminals. state-run petra news agency says the men were put to death early sunday morning for murders. the government gave no reason why it suddenly lifted the death penalty ban that has been in place since 2006. >>> 70 years ago, a 14-year-old boy was executed by the u.s. for allegedly killing two girls in the south. he was black. they were white. his trial took less than three hours. recently a judge overturned his conviction. here's cnn's david mattingly. >> reporter: at 5'1" and 95 pounds he was just a skinny teenager, only 14 years old, growing up in the town of south carolina back in 1944. george steny jr. was tending to the family's cow with his little sister in this field near an old set o

interestingly, it's not just people in north korea who are annoyed with the movie. we are seeing online many citizens of south korea complaining that the sea, east sea as it's called in the rest of the world, sorry the ec, in south korea it's called the sea of japan to the rest of the world, a very contentious here in north korea. that is being focused on by south korea. really both sides of the peninsula at this point, there is some anger at this movie. >> well, it was meant to be an outrageous comedy and it is certainly garnering some outrageous responses. and also, what about efforts, paula, for those in south korea who try to smuggle things into north korea to get people there to try to be able to see it? >> well, this is certainly going to be one of pyongyang's biggest concerns that this movie could make its way into north korea. we've seen these so-called propaganda balloons and activists sending dvds showing exactly what is happening in north korea across the border in helium balloons. we know that many of them do make it to north korea. we've heard from some

north korea has denied responsibility. one of the co-authors of this story is devlin barrett of the "wall street journal". mister barrett, how close is the u.s. white house to naming korea government is responsible? guest: they are pretty close. i think it will name her later today, and it would be pretty awkward if you didn't answer that question today -- he ddidn't answer that question today. so much of this has happened so fast. much evidence is there? how much evidence -- have you seen any? guest: well, i am not an investigator. i just talked to people who do that kind of work. what i have been told is that is an increasing number of evidence that points to north korea. of that is similarities hacks on his hacking south korean institutions that have happened before. there is also really where, at one t point, we were told that one of computers actually pinged back directly to a north korean computer. they're still trying to figure out exactly what that means. that is not normally how hacking would work. part, you would

linking the attack directly to north korea? because as you know, the north korean government has flatly denied it was responsible and praised all the criticism of the film, but it doesn't -- it insists it had nothing to do with the hacking? >> you're right. the north korean government has denied involvement but we know from sources in early december there was a growing confidence in the u.s. government that north korea was responsible for the hack attack at sony and there were a few reasons why. not only just the motivation because of the movie, but because of the m.o. it was similar to a cyber attack against south korean banks last year as one source said, the techniques, the tactics and procedures were out of the north korean playbook. the coding was written in korean. a growing sense in early december but cyber investigations take a long time. this is extraordinary that we're at a point where the u.s. government is, we're being told by sources, about to announce atrybution to north korea. as we speak there is language being c

and south korea should try to alleviate china's concern over regime change of north korea. china and the u.s. should probably alleviate those concerns over its relationship with the other country, you know, whether it's china or the u.s. don't push too hard. and china and south korea should probably try to alleviate washington's concern over the nuclear threat from nuclear and also attempt to minimize the role of the u.s., allegedly the efforts to minimize the role of the u.s. in the region. so, if we try to be innovative and practicing mattic and cautious at the same time, i think the relationship should be less bad if not much better. thank you. >> thank you for your presentation. just my personal comment on your argument on aaib. there might be some pressure from your side. i don't know if your side pressures on our shoulders, but if i -- if i can correct, the biggest problem on aaib is that china wants to take 50% shareholders based on tpt base, a little higher than gdp per capita. if china take 50% of shareholders, korea has some difficulty. so, that is my initial under

there's no banking system really in north korea. anking system in south korea with cyberattacks, it's a no lose for the regime in the north. that's been the focus on the attacks, is on south korea's financial activity and the south korean government. now they have focused their attention to the united states and that's what is new here and why we should be looking at what we can do. as pointed out, without resources, north korea can't develop its nuclear weapons program. without hard currency, it can't send, you know, students abroad to learn these skills in moscow or beijing and then come home and practice them. let's cut off their hard currency. that's what we should be doing to bureau 121. >> well, there is a sentiment right now. i want to show you the cover of the new york post in a headline "kim jong won." >> the thought was not just on that but the publisher. the publishing houses came together and defended the right to pub lesh. what should have happened here is that hollywood and frankly the wider business community should ha

today at a press conference. >> the fbi says it consulted with several departments to see that north korea launched the cyber attack to sony. links to other malwear, including similarities in code and algorithms. ip addresses associated with known north korean infrastructure and they found similarities to a cyber attack launched from north korea in 2013 against south korea's souts infrastructure. confidential e-mails from sony's networks. after threats of violence sony decided to cancel the movie. but president obama in his end of the year news conference criticized that decision. >> yes, i think they made a mistake. we cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the united states. because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie imagine away they start to see a documentary that they don't like or news reports that they don't like. >> reporter: but sony disagrees with the president. ceo michael linton issued a statement, we have not given in, we have not backed down, we have always had every desire to have t

>>> north korea called u.s. president barack obama the chief culprit behind the release of the interview". we'll tell you what else pyongyang is saying about it. also, two fallen new york police officers are remembered as more threats are leveled against their fellow officers. also ahead this hour it, preparations under way in california for the rose bowl parade. how do they make those floats? and what is inside them? we'll have a report for you. welcome to our viewers in the u.s. and around the world. you're watching cnn live coverage. i'm natalee allen. happy holidays to you. no one expected "the interview" to get a good review from north korea and they did not disappoint issuing a scathing criticism of the comedy about a fictional plot to assassinate kim jong-un. they say the film is illegal, dishonest and contrary to the u.n. charter but they saved some of their harshest language for u.s. president barack obama and paula hancocks is following the story for us from seoul south korea and joins us now live from

north korea caught red-handed. today the fbi officially blaming north korea for hacking sony pictures. and now the pressure is mounting for the obama administration to do something and to do that something quickly and severely. this cyber attack could be just the first shot across the bow. but during his year-end news conference president obama refusing to announce any specific response. and at today's pentagon news conference rear admiral john kirby were was asked if the cyber attack were an act of war. >> i'm also, you know, not able to lay out in any specificity for you what would be or wouldn't be an act of war in the cyber domain. >> lieutenant colonel oliver north joins us. good evening, sir. >> greta. >> we've seen the new war nation against nation. nation against an ideology. and now is this a new war? and will the administration not call it that? >> admiral kirby and the president are in a difficult spot because neither nato nor the united nations have defined what an act of cyber war would be. interesting

the president making news that there will b response to north korea thehat administrati identified north korea the sauce of the attack on sony. the president said it was a mistake for sony to pull the film. we'll have more on this throughout the day. including the news at 4:00 eastern time. i'm david shuster. thanks for watching. real characters... >> creator of "all in the family" "the jeffersons" and "good times" talks race, comedy and american culture today... >> you're taking me to a place in this interview, i haven't been before... >> i told you this would be your best interview >> ...and it is... it's the current one... >> every monday, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... talk to al jazeera, only on al jazeera america >> this is puerto galera in the philippines. i've been coming here for over a decade. for me, it's like a second home.

saturday in pyongyang, north korea. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. president obama caps off a momentous week with a news conference set to begin at the bottom of the hour. we'll have live coverage of that. the president steps before the cameras after taking a major step toward diplomatic relations with cuba. he's certain to face questions about that as well as other hot topics, including the sony cyberattack linked to north korea, immigration reform and the fight against isis. the president is expected to highlight job growth and other improvements in the economy. he will answer reporters' questions for maybe as long as an hour. it's scheduled to begin at the bottom of the hour, 1:30 p.m. eastern. we'll have full coverage and analysis. we'll check in with our correspondents and analysts. that's coming up momentarily. first, breaking news on the cyberattack on sony pictures. the fbi is now officially publicly blaming north korea directly for the hacking. the agency releasing a deta

four people in north korea who have internet access. hink it was that. just as like ily that the north koreans did the themselves as preventive measure, following up on the white house statement on the. so right now it's all just speculation. the idea that perhaps the chinese might have been assisting us. there are no greater perpetrators of state sponsored cyber crimes, cyber espionage, than the chinese. they pour vast amounts of resources into it. they're poking and testing our infrastructure every day in major way. so asking the chinese for support, for help in this regard, is kind of like asking the fox to guard the henhouse. >> quickly before i come back to john here on set. i want to get your thoughts on something that was kind of coming together this weekend. the president calling what happened to sony pictures cyber vandalism versus cyber terrorism. senator john mccain and others are saying you have to call this what it is, an act of war, cyber bomb. your thoughts. >> well, we always get wrapped around the semantics, whether it's

now to the lead and more on the north korea and sony arehack. outages, even more of them, as parts of the country are back online. is it the u.s. or sony pictures itself? told trishtom ridge regan how he would like the u.s. to respond. >> i would like them to click on the internet and see the stars be theipes flag and may star-spangled banner being played. that would send a message that says, look, we know who you are. we can get into your system. don't do it again. >> jordan robertson joins us from washington and also lucas shaw. width of theatest sony decision to seemingly reversed themselves and show the movie? >> the latest is that sony has issued a statement from sony .ntertainment ceo mike litton they haven't provided much more detail on that they said they are try to get more platforms and they want it in as many theaters as possible. it is unclear how many that will be. >> a big reversal for sony. the individuals who run sony have been under the gun. before the focus on the movie, the focus was on the individuals running sony. why this k

could this be the counter attack, the response that the white house promised for north korea's hackingony. nobody is saying right now, but it is hard to figure out who may be behind it. some people think the north koreans turned off their own system or the chinese cut off access. nobody talking about it. here at the pentagon, the game is all about cyber defense right now. options being developed to improve pentagon defenses against any potential north korean hacking. security already very tight. of course on classified computer network systems. a lot of working done to double check and just to make sure all of the systems are fully secure and developing options for the president. if he decides to launch some sort of cyber counter attack against north korea and of course the administration has other options as well. sanctions or putting north korea back on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism. christine. >> barbara starr, a spokeswoman saying you may see some responses. >>> in france, a second ka kakarca car attack in two days. a 37-year-old man rammed his car in the city of nan

did north korea win? >>> and is the release of a spy for almost 20 years, a man that almost no one knew he existed, who is the mystery spy. >>> and as the terror attack rises in pakistan, we have new video tracking the steps of the killers inside of that school. let's go outfront. >>> good evening. i'm erin burnett. and "outfront" tonight, the breaking news, the white house calls the crippling attack on sony pictures, a quote, serious national security matter but today no formal response from the white house. one day after cnn reported that u.s. investigators concluded that north korean leaders ordered the attack. a statement from the administration blaming north korea and laying out the response was anticipated as early today instead a white house spokesperson didn't use the words north korea in responding to questions about the attack, simply saying the investigation is ongoing. >> i'm not prepared to ascribe any accountability for this specific act or to describe who might have been the sophisticated a