north korean cyberattacks against sony are not new. orth korea regularly attacks south korean banks and businesses. also, there's a changing view of north korea by its neighbors, and only economic sponsored. china and south korea changed their views. the south korean president used to be lukewarm to talk about a unified korea. today the south korean president speaks openly of reunification and of the enormous economic benefits of that unification. china is frustrated that north korea ignores its request to freeze or dismantle its nuclear program, but the nuclear armed north korea, south korea and japan will want object need to develop a nuclear weapons program. china increasingly is viewing north korea as a strategic liability, not an asset. china views north korea as a growing threat to china's stability. and china's ties to south korea have flourished. and china's president, regular visits south korea and not north korea. so while the discussion here is centered on cyberattacks i think there's a larger discussion that needs to take pl

-dot the north koreans usually react hostility to joint maneuvers? e're saying that this joint drill is routine and not related to a report that north korea is trying to increase submarine capabilities. whether it is or is not, i'll elected as the acting out? >> i do not want to speculate on what they may be planning to do. they do not like our exercises because they understand that it strengthens our combined deterrent capability. these are routine non- provocative operations being carried out for over 20 years. they have no right to complain. >> you mentioned ambassador the six party talks. the the north koreans seem to be more interested in having to party talks with the united states rather than the six party talks. is that still would we find? >> unfortunately they do not seem to be interested in any constructive dialogue with anybody. we believe that the framework provides a viable forum for discussing this issue. the six party process has made the most clear commitment to denuclearization, and we must hold them to it. it it also includes key co

north korean cyberattacks against sony are not new. north korea regularly attacks south korean banks and businesses. also, there's a changing view of north korea by its neighbors, and only economic sponsored. china and south korea changed their views. the south korean president used to be lukewarm to talk about a unified korea. today the south korean president speaks openly of reunification and of the enormous economic benefits of that unification. china is frustrated that north korea ignores its request to freeze or dismantle its nuclear program, but the nuclear armed north korea, south korea and japan will want object need to develop a nuclear weapons program. china increasingly is viewing north korea as a strategic liability, not an asset. china views north korea as a growing threat to china's stability. and china's ties to south korea have flourished. and china's president, regular visits south korea and not north korea. so while the discussion here is centered on cyberattacks, i think there's a larger discussion that needs to take

a thousand north korean women are registered with this agts si. tly there's only around 200 south korean male members but the agency says that figure is increasing by 20% each year. women can register for free, but men have to pay an annual fee of around $3,000 and can meet up to five women. company president, hong seung woo is speaking to a north korean woman about a potential match up. the perspective husband's conditions are explained to the woman. it's up to her to decide whether she wants to meet him. the woman defected from north korea four years ago. she's 30 and has never married. match making agencies say marrying a local man is the easiest way for north korean women to fit into south korean society. his wife is originally from north korea. she's also the company's vice president. kim jong ho is registered with the agency. after working as a taxi and truck driver, the 38-year-old began working as a used car salesman just over a year ago. he says that the ongoing recession is affecting sales. he's dated several south korean women in the pas

him him and are you aware of the north koreans using, in essence, forced labor to do construction or anything? >> sure. north korea is a human rights disaster. and as i've said before, the north korean government bears full responsibility for all of the misery they inflict on their people. i would defer to ambassador kim to get into the details of how -- the precise mechanisms of by which they opress their -- they oppress their people. >> ambassador king, would you like to add anything? >> i would just add that we know that it is part of the north korean human rights abuse. we don't know how much that contributes to their gdp but the north korean huan rights record is among the worst if not the worst and that is why we need to pay more attention to this issue and i think what happened in the u.n. context last year is significant, with the commissioner inquiry findings and the overwhelming passage of the human rights resolutions. >> thank you, madam chair. i yield back. >> mr. ribble, there has been some good reporting on the use in forestry and other sectors mining. we now go to miss

on north korean studies and having this seminar here today. after being a reporter who had studied north korea seriously i can find ten ideas to make content while preserving the principles. so i will quickly read just title, the ten titles. maybe it would be helpful for you all. just quickly the ten titles. one is basic. cross check. cross check. cross check. when we cross check the information we can get more information in doing so. and the second, major from north korea. for example, we can make a graph, graph with the data that north korea opens. third, cover north korea directly, like we have to visit, and we have to interpret from the northen korean zone. fourth, utilize the resources from the society from academic, or social sinuses or something like that. and the fifth fact-finding in the past, the woodrow wilson centers, nkied project, which was my treasure ship for scooping, so i made lots of scoop in the under, in this document. and sixth is making network of intellectual supporters and seven thr making international sources. that

thank you for convening this breakbreakages, the north korean threat. this committee has long recognized the dangers of pyongyang's growing capabilities. in fact, last year as former chairman of the asia-pacific subcommittee, i held two hearings specifically on north korea because not only is it the greatest security threat to the peace and stability of asia but it's one of the united states most vexing security challenges. and i would argue greatest policy failures in many ways. the just a couple of questions. ambassador kim in june of last year the asia-pacific subcommittee heard testimony from your predecessor, ambassador glenn davies, and in his testimony he stated that china is north korea's quote last remaining patriot, unquote. however, as chairman royce already mentioned pyongyang has a good relationship with russia and illicit networks with countries in the middle east especially iran. we know that north korea maintains a fairly robust illicit trading network with these very the nation states and terrorist organizations, and last year signed an

. >> this type of exercise takes place every year but for the north korean government they consider this a provocation and a threat. >> north korea is still a flash point. we're still at a state of war with north korea. this is 1953 armistice. >> if there was someday heaven forbid a real war here we would need to work very closely. we are always practicing together always working together >> thankfully we have helped stabilize and ensure the security of the peninsula for the last 61 years, but in spite of that long time we have to be ready to fight tonight and that really is our mantra. >> north korea is under new leadership. >> kim jong-un looks funny he is overweight and sometimes does strange things. but he is smart. when his father died 7 top officials, 4 generals and 3 civilian bureaucrats, walked next to the coffin of his father in december 2011. in two years time, none of them was alive and in a high level position. >> when it comes to international relations, kim jong-un's rule has been described as erratic. since coming into power, he's launched a long-range rocket and carried o

the ordinary things north koreans do to many. although the fact there was so much at sony you would have thought might have raised some alarm bells. apparently it didn't. sony executives saying they never received any particular warning. >> so from president obama on down the fbi director everybody else they are convinced 100% this was the work of north korea although some outside cyberwarfare experts

its growing nuclear and missile programs and helpful scrutiny of north korean nuclear negotiations. eed, last congress the house passed legislation that ranking member eliot engel and i offered to ramp up the financial pressure on north korea, pressing for north korea to be designated a primary money laundering concern as has been done with iran curtailing its sale of weapons and stepping up inspections of north korean ships, among other steps. unfortunately the senate failed to act on this critical legislation before it adjourned. but will soon try again, and give the senate a chance to join us in tackling this growing threat. and i'll now turn to the ranking member for his opening comments. >> thank you very much, chairman royce. thank you for calling this briefing on the threat that north korea's nuclear missile and cyber capabilities pose to our national security, and that of our friends and allies in the asia-pacific region. i want to, on a personal note say that i commend your strong leadership on this issue. and it means a great deal that this briefing is the very first item o

should we be bracing for more north korean cyberwarfare attacks? >> i think so. re from their toolkit which they frequently turn to. they sank a south korean ship in 2010. they had their third nuclear test in 2013. we are sort of due for another. people who look closely at north korea's nuclear testing facility have seen signs they are getting ready potentially for another. could also be deception. this is probably part of a phase of agitation that north korea goes through, usually then it moderates a little and tries to extract concessions from south korea or the u.s. >> what do you anticipate having next, gordon? >> well i think there is certainly going to be more cyberattacks on the united states, because there really has not been effective costs imposed on the north koreans or the chinese. the real issue is going to be what's happening inside the regime in north korea. there are signs of distress. we have seen things that are inconsistent with the dominant narrative that kim jong-un, the ruler, has quickly consolidated control. so i expect that there is going

national intelligence drector james clapper called it a powerful new realm for the north koreans. he said they believe they can use to it exert maximum influence at minimum cost. >>> chinese officials have received a message from counter parts in north korea. they say they have apologized for murders last month by a north korea. the man allegedly crossed the boarder and entered north eastern china, broke into a home in the province and killed four residents. police suspect the man entered china illegally with the intent of stealing. police shot him and took him to custody. officials with the foreign ministry say he died while being detained. authorities in beijing launched a protest with pyongyang over the incident. the government has apologized to families of the victims. >>> a japanese fleet is on its way to the antarctic ocean to conduct a survey of whales there. the fleet will enter this month or early february. it will spend about a month there. two vessels set up a patrol ship and set sail thursday from western japan. the international court of justice ruled in march japan's

when it has been given, it was to sell the propaganda of the north korean regime. you walk out basically telling north korea's agenda. so the only way, i mean -- [inaudible] i think after the third time i realized i could only write about this place if i was to be embedded, is the only way. write something meaningful. so the school did provide that opportunity. >> yeah. >> to get to know the students. but it did come with that price of -- i mean but, you know i think another thing that was you know, the book is incredibly personal. i'm really personal. and that was by choice because i needed to do -- i needed to humanize north korea. that was what's lacking. we don't have any story coming out of north korea that is not from defectors. defectors are telling the story why they fled north korea. so reports from north korea inside are basically propaganda because you can't really see anything or talk to north koreans. so, you know, this gave a chance to get to know north korean students, and we lookedded at them in a -- looked at them in a locked compound. none of us w

to assassinate north korean leader kim jong-un. before leaving washington for the holiday, president obama gave advance notice during a press conference that the u.s. would retaliate. >> we have been working up a range of options. they will be presented to me. i will make a decision on those based on what i believe is proportional and appropriate to the nature of this crime. >> reporter: the white house says these new sanctions are carefully targeted at the north korean government and its powerful friends. they say they are not intended to punish the already-suffering north korean people. jeff. >> glor: chip, as you know, some experts still question whether north korea was actually behind the attack. did the white house address that today? >> reporter: yes they did and they had they stand by their conclusion that north korea was behind the hack, and they say some of the cyber-security experts who have questioned their conclusion do not have access to highly classified intelligence information that the u.s. has obtained. >> glor: al

intelligence agency and a north korean arms dealer.hite house officials say this is just the first part of the u.s. response to the sony incident. it's also the first time the u.s. has specifically retaliated officially for this and formally accused north korea of being behind the actual attack. of course north korea is already subject, not only to u.s. unilateral sanctions, but also sanctions that were authorized more than a year ago by the u.n. security council, but that was in reaction to its nuclear activities. so this is the first time that we're talking about cyber attacks and cyber security. the question here now is whether the -- what kind of response the north koreans might engage in. there had been some statements from the north korean leader kim jong un, that he was seeking some kind of -- not to say [ inaudible ] but at least some kind of cooling of the tensions between the west and -- and -- and his country, but obviously that is not in the offering right now, and again, we're looking for what the white house says is not j

a hub for north koreans is that questions about what is really happening beneath the surface. >> the really peaked in china between 2005 and 2011. now that north korea is expanding access within its country, they're moving operations back to pyongyang. but he says they have hackers operating all over the world because they can launch attacks that can't be directly traced back to north korea. it was remarkable to walk into a hotel, a restaurant and feel like you're transported back inside north korea. >>> pretty illuminating. thanks very much. doing some great reporting from beijing. with us in the situation room now, our guest, steven yates, christian whiten, a deputy special envoy for human rights in north korea during the bush administration and gordon chang, a columnist for forbes.com. author of the book nuclear showdown north korea takes on the world. if this so-called bureau 121 location the operation is so much public knowledge, why do the chinese allow this to go on. why have they intervened? >> they must be okay with its operations. and of course china itself is one of the lea

and that's the reason north korea's demonstrated lethal means to attack south koreans u.s. rsonnel and installations from south korea over the past half century. yes we take north korea quite seriously. at the same time, the athis assault, north korea said it would blow up the blue house and many times this time it really worked in muzzling free speech in the united states. i think backlash the sense of indignation felt by the american public and many people in congress as well as the obama administration was not foreseen by north korea. so who knows. maybe the u.s. will finally firm up and find the resolve to really put some hurt on north korea. >> time to firm up and put some hurt on north korea. okay sun yeung lee he is a professor at tufts university. thank you sir for your time. >> thank you. >> yoamario quomo's family says his funeral will be held on monday. his death occurred the same day that his son andrew took office. libby casey has the story. >> he was not shy of being pro-choice supporting civil rights vetoing the death penalty and putting other people ahead of

there are rich north koreans who maintain foreign bank accounts but those are due to political connections. there is not really a kind of private business olagart class in north korea like there is in russia. so what we're talking attacking are state officials. in the executive order by the president, before those sanctions were triggered by activities related to weapons proliferation. now they've added two additional triggers, cyber warfare and human rights. perspectively, given how broadly this executive order is written, the potential number of targets in north korea is absolutely vast. basically any government agency, any enterprise, i don't want to call them a private firm, and lots of state officials could potentially be sanctioned. >> marcus, i'm smarter at the end of this conversation than i was before. marcus nolan as the institute for economic studies. >>> in paris many were disappointed that the charlie hebdo magazine sold out quickly. that caused the publisher to print more copies, 5 million. >> they were queuing before dawn, such was the demand for this week's charlie hebdo, a

. >> these sanctions cut often 10 individuals of the north korean government and north korean arms dealer from any kind of financial access to the world banking sthutions. but itbanking institutions but it is a supplement to the multilateral and unilateral sanctions against north korea from the date the u.n. security council imposed them in reaction to north korea's nuclear activities. one thing that might be noted though is that there are people in the cyber community cyber-security community in the united states who are still not convinced that the north koreans were behind this. they behavioral accept the north korean government denial of the hack and they say that there is evidence to believe that the actual culprit was a disgruntled ex sony employee. however, the fbi says that it is confident that it is in deed, the source of this hacking was north korea. >> mass gunmen in have killed are rebels loyal to the libyan government. two of the attackers were also killed. security was worsened in the past months with several armed groups and rebel governments battling for control. >>> areku

the north koreans are age are you about the condescending of the anti-korean leaflets across the boardctivists in the south. attach today balloons. >> the north koreans saying talks can't happen in such an atmosphere despite the fact that both leaders say in theory at least they are taupe a summit. plenty of territory to be covered before one can become an aye a real estate alt. >>> in iraq as you know the army is in a long-running battle with isil forces trying to take background that isil has already taken, particularly there is a fight going on in the villages surrounding beige i. this is a very important location as mohamed adow now explains. >> reporter: it's down. the sun comes through and lights up the battlefields of the fight the iraqi army is in engaged in with isil fighters. the army's target this morning is the village. this is the road to the biggest refinery. >> we are making some gains. we will be victorious, our forces are still advancing. the army will be victorious over the enemy. >> reporter: as the fighting intensifies, some of the troops take cover behind their veh

and it says that many of north korea's major cyber operations run through the cyber arms of the north korean government. then the press secretary josher andest has put out a statement on all this talking about why they are going after north korea with these new sanction. it says we take seriously north korea's attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a u.s. company, talking about sony pictures and to threaten artists and other individuals with the golf restricting their right of free expression. as the president has said, our response to north korea's attack against sony pictures entertainment will be proportional. this is interesting saying at the end today's actions are the first aspect of our response. so an indication that more may be coming and also important to point out, ana, that much of this is laid out in a letter from president obama to house speaker john boehner so the president getting some serious business done before he wraps up this vacation here in hawaii. >> and another executive action taken fwit. jim sciutto, i want to ask you, this week here on set we

are you aware of the north koreans using forced labor to do construction? >> north korea is a human rights disaster. and as i said before, the government bears full responsibility for all of the misery that they inflict on their people. i would be sure to ambassador kim to get into the details of how the mechanisms by which they oppress their people but certainly there's been extensive reports on the use. >> would you like to add anything? >> i would just add that we know the forced labor is a part of the north korean human rights abuse. we don't have any figures on how much that contributes to their gdp, but the thing is the north korean human rights record is among the worst if not the worst and this is why we need to pay more attention to this issue and why i think what happened in the un context last year is so significant with the permission of the report findings as well as the overwhelming passage of the human rights resolutions. >> thank you. i yield back. >> there has been good reporting on the use of other sectors, but particular what would you cal

as well as the north korean state.of course the chinese state as well which hosted the north korean cyberwarriors. >> gordon chang. appreciate your time. happy new year. >> happy new year. thank you very much. >>> still ahead -- crew finding more debris from flight 8501 and locating more means scouring the ocean floor and that is a daunting task. we'll take a look at the major challenges next. >>> a search for flight 8501 covering a 2,000-mile stretch of the java sea. but that effort will ultimately lead to the ocean floor. scouring depth is a very taunting task. cnn looks at that. >> the search area has been 45 files to 45 miles. and the water here is considerable more shallow than others in the past. that should make it easier. this is where they're searching now, 80 to 100 feet under the water. compare this to the world's tallest building here. we took it upside down from the surface. that's the tallest tower. there's the statue of liberty. the eiffel tower. lisa taina, they were able to leekt locate that. but then

shedding new light today on the hack attack on sony pictures saying it is quote, confident that the north korean government was responsible for the breach. >> reporter: north korea was behind the devastating attack on sony but has classified information they can't see that proves the north koreans were involved. he released new information about just how the fbi knows pyongyang was involved saying the north koreans got sloppy and failed to cover cyber tracks. >> either they forgot or had a technical problem. they connected directly. and we could see them. and we could see that the ip addresses being used to post and to send the e-mails were coming from ips that were exclusive used by the north koreas. it was a mistake by them we haven't told you about before. >> reporter: also james claber the director of national intelligence who went to north korea two months ago to obtain the release of two americans. had dinner with kim yonkchul and the man who would have signed off on the sony hack two. >> he point at the chest with a north korean exercise with a provocation of war. >> reporter: issued a wa

the north korean foundation of philosophy.nd they took this class basically to study the great leader they took a class every day. they never volunteered information so i listen to intend play. the student continued here and we had to write an essay. they normally wrote in kirby and i had never thought of them before. and now we did. what was so strange i asked? i don't know he said causing thoughtfully. i vote that it and realized it was different now. writing english and write and korean are different. but that is also the same. i kept thinking of the essay structure as i was writing it and it made me feel strange. i did not question them further. i thought i understood. it must have been deeply confusing to approach the writing i've been essay. in the country there is no proof, no checks and balances unless of course they wanted to prove the great leader has single-handedly with thousands of books saved the nation with a miraculous number of things. certain systems designed not to be questioned and to squash critical thinki

that being said this is a very small portion of the north korean economy and so it is not clear what it will have. >> gordon you know that part of the calculation with responses like this and measures against north korea, is concern about sparking further retaliation from the north korean side. i wonder as you look at these sanctions, do you consider them a proportional response and are you concerned about how north korea pays the u.s. back as it were? >> yeah it is very difficult to figure out what a proportional response would be considering what north korea and some associated hackers did to sony picture entertainment and indeed they attacked the core of american democracy. i don't think the north koreans are going to take this lying down. we have to remember that in a few weeks south korean activists will take dvds of the "interview," the money that north korea hates and try to loft it over into north korea so they can watch it. and at that point, north korea is probably going to react in very tangible ways certainly against south korea and maybe against sony and also maybe again

what new punishments are even left. >> the big sanction here is barring the north korean entities fromis is nrt korean's kgb. another one is a big arms dealer for 9 nrt coriance and the third another trading corporation with tied to its defense industry. >> jon: i just want to interrupt there. so in all the sanctions we had on nrt korea north korea's kgb and arms dealers were still allowed to use our banking system? (laughter) >> jon: not that on average they didn't make our banking system less evil but still still-- north korea ask our worst enemy on earth and they are still allowed to use our atms. north korea is already the world capitol of having no capitol. if we are sending a message about this sony hack, we got to make kim jung-un's place in his very tiny yet expensive feet. >> the white house has made it clear this is just the first round of payback for the cyberattack. >> president obama still considers whether to place north korea back on its list of states that sponsored terrorism. >> jon: you made the list buddy. that goes on your permanent record. good luck kim jung-un get

list of sanctions and then have some other series of events know it happen that would make the north koreansay you know that just wasn't worth it, and the movie wasn't that good either. >> have you seen it? >> i have not. i can't give them the money. >> china is north korea's only real purveyor of internet access. what do you think of asking china or getting china to exert its influence over north korea in order to contain north korea's behavior in this area? >> chinese policy is self-defeating. i think it's contrary to chinese interests. what they need in northeast asia is a root canal, and they are afraid to go to the dentist, so they just pop in aspirin to deal with the pain. this is a pathological gangster state, a dangerous source of instability for the chinese and will be as long as it exists but they have not quite gotten themselves to the position where they feel they have to go to the dentist and do something drastic. you would think when junior killed his uncle, who was china's man in the politburo that would have nudged in a positive direction, but so far president xi has enough c

. >> these actions baffle cut off 10 individuals associated with the north korean government as well as their intelligence agency and a north korean arms dealer from any kind of financial access to the world banking institutions. but it is just a supplement to the existing multilateral and unilateral u.s. sanctions gapes north korea dating from the time the u.n. security council posed them in reaction to the north korea's nuclear activity. one thing that might be noted though is that there are people in the cyber security community of the united states who are still not convinced that the north koreans were behind this. they basically accept the north korean government's denial of the hacking, and they say that there is evidence to believe that the actual culprit was a disgruntled ex-sony employee. the fbi says it is confident that it is the source of the hacking >>> coming up in the next 15 minutes, living in the shadow of a japanese power takes that is about to be switched back to life >>> we'll meet the me that call themselves the zama-zama's - illegal miners finding gold. >>> hel

list of sanctions and then have some other series of events know it happen that would make the north koreans say you know that just wasn't worth it, and the movie wasn't that good either. >> have you seen it? >> i have not. i can't give them the money. >> china is north korea's only real purveyor of internet access. what do you think of asking china or getting china to exert its influence over north korea in order to contain north korea's behavior in this area? >> chinese policy is self-defeating. i think it's contrary to chinese interests. what they need in northeast asia is a root canal, so they are afraid to go to the dentist, so they just pop in aspirin to deal with the pain. this is a dangerous source of instability for the chinese and will be as long as it exists but they have not quite gotten themselves to the position where they feel they have to go to the dentist and do something drastic. you would think when junior killed his uncle that would have nudged them in a positive direction. but so far i think the president has enough challenges with his own transition, he is just not read

north korean hackers operated secretly for years.e of his own students became cyber warriors for the hacker network known today as bureau 121. by day, they worked regular jobs but they were work on orders from pyongyang. they worked out of the basements of north korean-owned buildings. he he says locations were kept secret and constantly changing. when they enter china he says they come under different titles. for example, an office worker an official with a trade company or even as a diplomatic staffer. north korea has a clons lat just minute from the hotel and restaurant. government officials reached by e-mail at pyongyang tell cnn they have no comment on the defectors claims. for its part china says it opposes any illegal cyber5 activity on its territory. in the middle of a bustling chinese city, a hub for north koreans and questions of what's really happening beneath the surface. >> after all of this it seems tony pictures is getting the last laugh. the north korean satire "the interview" has now become the best online earner eve

a few little pin prick sanctions on the north koreans that's not going to change their behavior. s that other companies and countries looking at this, well, if that's what they did to north korea that's not so much. they won't do much against us. so let's us go after the american company, a part of the american infrastructure. it seems to be no penalty for going after americans. >> finally, what can be concerning is their response. remember july 4th a couple of years ago, they pick a day to lob some missiles over japan or something. here's what the "wall street journal" says, mr. kim's birthday is neck week. in 2013, the north koreans conducted a nuclear test on the eve of the state of the union address. do you expect a nuclear test on the eve of the state of the union and should they be put back on the terrorism list? >> for sure, put them back on the terrorism list and will the north koreans do anything to rain on our parade? you bet they'll try to do it. nuclear tests haven't been terribly successful in the past. but i think we can anticipate that they'll either try a missile t

he then walked into town and he looked very much like a lot of young north koreans. he was skinny. he was wearing an old military uniform and he didn't have much to do. there were a lot of unemployed people that lived in north korea in the wake of the great famine in 1991 almost a million people died. north korea at the lowest level was a very disorganized place where the crew distribution service depended on smugglers from china and farmers selling food from cooperative farms when they were not supposed to and the government had no choice but to put out this messy informal market system because it's the only way that people can eat. there are estimates that 80 to 90% of the calories in the stomach of any north korean come from the system now. so shin fell into the system. he was lucky. within a few days he had broken into a house stolen s'more clothing, warmer clothing and stolen a big bag of rice. i think it was a 10-pound bag of rice which he put in a backpack in which he also stole and he walked past a market and the market lady said what if he got in the bag boy? he said i've g

it possible everyone was right, yes there was an insider and one that had been co-opted by the north korean government, in which north korea is bragging about the local we have inside sony and what fun we will have? is it possible? >> it is possible, if the person does or does not work for north korea, that's the only way i can see that happening. >> how about a person feeding information to north korea? >> whether it comes to spy games it doesn't really matter. it is too fine a line to draw. i still think it's possible. >> what do you think about the north korean official have flog to do with lacking they are connected to systems? >> how are more sanctions going to help north korean people in general? i don't understand. >> doesn't the administration need to deter other state actors who might be tempted to pull off something similar? >> it's a great argument assuming we buy into the premise that they did cause this mess to begin with. >> the white house is again insisting that it's great people are picking apart and thinking this is bush administration all over again where intelligence has

. >> reporter: wolf the north korean government is firing back. at they're focusing on is the international news coverage of the sony hack and the skepticism among some cyber security experts that north korea was even involved in the attack on sony. as we've reported on cnn and others have reported as well some feel that the hack was an inside job and pyongyang pounced on that saying that the u.s. is launching these sanctions as a way to try and validate a shaky case against the north korean government but the white house as you know is standing firm here launching these sanctions saying they have very credible evidence that north korea was involved in the devastating hack on sony pictures and that's why you see the u.s. targeting several different north korean governmental entities and ten different individuals, officials working on behalf of the north korean government outside of the country in places like iran russia africa and syria. now most of these individuals, in fact seven of them were working in the weapons export business. this is one of