On Friday, January 2nd, President Obama imposed new sanctions against North Korea. These sanctions come in response to the cyber attack against Sony Pictures, which the FBI has stated North Korea was behind. The hack occurred as Sony was planning to release “The Interview” a film centered on assassinating the leader of North Korea. The hackers released the personal information of employees, unreleased films and more. Despite a lot of skepticism from computer experts, the FBI insists that North Korea infiltrated Sony Pictures. Others believe that former employees may have been part of the hacking. North Korea themselves have denied any involvement in the hack.
Regardless, the new sanctions expressly forbid the transfer, sale, or purchase of United States’ property by anyone affiliated with the North Korean government. The sanctions also apply to anyone who materially assisted North Korea and the sanctions block entry into the United States for anyone who meets the criteria. Obama specifically said the sanctions apply to North Korea’s military intelligence agency, the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (the primary weapons dealer in North Korea), and ten individuals, including leaders and executives.
Previous sanctions have not had much of an impact on North Korea. Joel Wit, a member of the US Korea Institute at John Hopkins University in Washington said, “It’s not as if they travel a lot abroad to western Europe or the United States ... They don’t have billions of dollars in western banks.” North Korea has not taken the sanctions lightly and has lashed out at the United States in response. The Foreign Ministry of North Korea said, "The policy persistently pursued by the U.S. to stifle [North Korea], groundlessly stirring up bad blood towards it would only harden its will and resolution.” In a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, Obama made it clear however that "The order is not targeted at the people of North Korea, but rather is aimed at the government of North Korea and its activities that threaten the United States and others.”
What do you think of the new sanctions placed against North Korea? Do you think they will be effective or bring about any changes in North Korea? Also, do you think that the North Korea even played a role in the cyber attack against Sony Pictures? Personally, it seems like the evidence shows that North Korea was not behind the attack, however, I still believe that more sanctions aren’t a bad idea. I do wonder how effective the sanctions will be, considering the vast amount of sanctions already in place against North Korea haven’t done much.
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4 comments:
Ben,
The new sanctions placed against North Korea can be perceived in a multitude of ways. There is no definite answer for whether or not North Korea was actually behind the Sony hack, but with The Interview just being released, it seems like a reasonable conclusion. If North Korea was actually behind the attack then I think the sanctions should be kept in place, for a while at least, to prove that the U.S. does not want anything to do with a government who does not respect fundamental rights. However, if North Korea was not behind the attack then maybe the sanctions should not be enforced because it is recorded that the U.S. exported around $21.9 million worth of goods to North Korea in 2014.
For quite some time, the U.S. and the North Korean governments have been at odds, and this debacle is only going to make matters worse. I believe that the concept of the sanctions seem like a good idea, but they most likely will not bring about much change. If North Korea purposely hacked into a major company’s database because of one movie, then they will most likely feel as if the sanctions are just a silly retaliation. Honestly, if the FBI is wrong and the hack was not committed by North Korea and now we put sanctions up against the transfer, sale, and purchase of U.S. goods with anyone affiliated with the North Korean government, then this with antagonize them for no real reason. These sanctions would seem unfair and uncalled for in North Korea’s eyes, and there is no telling how they might retaliate against unjust treatment.
When it comes to deciding whether or not you believe if North Korea played a role in the Sony hack, many factors can cloud someone’s judgment. I personally have no strong opinion either way on the attack because I feel that more evidence is needed in order to accurately find the offender. Tensions have been high with North Korea for a while, so it would seem like a plausible idea to immediately assume it was North Korea. But I also think that although the U.S. does not agree with North Korea’s way of government, they are also a powerful country who maybe would not care about a comedy made by Americans for the purpose of entertainment. You also have to take into account that there are people contradicting the FBI’s statement as well as the idea that Sony could have unhappy people looking for revenge and they found it by blaming a country that is at odds with America. One thing is for sure, Sony Pictures was hacked, and personal information was leaked, but people just can’t jump to conclusions because it is the most convenient answer. More research and evidence needs to be reported in order for people to properly understand who was behind the attack and why.
Ben and Sammy,
It is amazing to think that all of these issues arose out of one comedy movie. Although there is evidence that claims that Sony Pictures was hacked, I find it had to believe that it was North Korea's doing. Based off of past altercations with the nation, it is clear that they do not have the sufficient technological advances or power to infiltrate an American system. However, I could be proved wrong. North Korea has developed nuclear bombs, but they cannot reach the US. Many seem to forget that Sony is a Japanese company, that is privately owned. Once Sony was hacked, many of the Japanese workers began to worry that maybe North Korea could attack them instead.
With all of this "bad blood" I cannot help to strain the fact that North Korea is still under a Communist Regime; a form of government that defies all of the American principles. There will always be "bad blood" between the North Koreans and Americans. Though these sanctions may seem harsh, and perhaps unfair (if North Korea did not hack), this is a method of demonstrating the world that the United States does not tolerate espionage hacking. Furthermore, one can only hope that this type of sanction will only last for a while. Sammy pointed out that the US exported a large sum of goods to North Korea; this could be quite detrimental to the US economy. Yet, we mustn't forget that North Koreans are trained to hate Americans. A few years ago, there was this documentary that exposed the inner workings of the North Korean government. The people that were featured uttered their disgust for the American people and hopes to see them fail. This, of course, must constantly be on the mind of the President.
I truly believe that this sanction will only last a while. It would be too difficult for the American economy to maintain it. Also, like Ben pointed out, these sanctions haven't had an impact on the North Koreans or their government officials.
Ben,
Although I agree with Sammy, Ben, and Lilly in that the hack is an obvious violation of Sony's and its employees' privacy, I fundamentally disagree with the way the government and the American people have responded to this event.
First, I would just like to state that although the Interview is attempting to make a political statement about North Korea, its message is subverted in dumb jokes and improper humor. The film turns the struggles and suffering of the North Korean people into one-liners or riffs that focus more on winning a laugh from the audience than on addressing the severity of their struggles. The subjugation, starvation, and brutal treatment of millions of people should not be treated as a joke, for unlike the Interview, their struggles are real. As such, the Interview is simply not as patriotic or as honorable as it seems; it is about assassinating Kim Jong Un in a humorous way, not about exploring the suffering of the North Korean people.
It has been our response to the hacking that has made the Interview into a symbol of freedom, even though it does not deserve such acclaim. When the film was first pulled from theaters, President Obama stated that Sony made a mistake. He said, "We cannot have a society in which some dictators someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States...Imagine what they start doing once they see a documentary that they don't like or news reports that they don't like." Now, although I agree with the principle that freedom of speech and press should not bow to anyone, especially foreign dictators that deny their own people such freedoms, we should not herald a film as a symbol of liberty just because some foreign nation has challenged it. We should look at the content of what we are trying to protect, for really we are not protecting much at all. A line must be drawn somewhere, and the comedic assassination of political figures is a good place to start.
It’s rather hypocritical for Americans to react so positively about the onscreen murder of Kim Jong Un. If any country, whether it was England or Iran, wanted to internationally debut a movie about the assassination of Barack Obama, Americans would be outraged. I am confident that even those who oppose President Obama would demand that the filmmakers face extreme consequences for their production. The demands for revenge would only be worse if the country to publish such a film was one of our greatest enemies. The United States government would respond mercilessly, and hacking would be the last method we would use. Moreover, if the government of the country where the movie was produced heralded the film as a symbol of its countries freedoms and encouraged the showing of the film, I would expect the United States to retaliate with far more than discontent and the occasional threat, like North Korea has. We would stop at nothing to make the filmmakers and the country pay for their cinematic attack on American figureheads.
For that reason, when I look at how North Korea has handled the situation, I think they are acting with incredible restraint. Of course they don’t want the film broadcasted; it makes fun of their highest leader and humiliates North Korea. As such, I am actually surprised that they have not done more to protect the honor of the regime and take revenge on those who have published and supported the film. Until they take such action, I think the United States needs to reevaluate its position.
It is one thing to defend a film or publication that works to promote freedom; its another to defend something that humiliates an entire people.
Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/19/media/sony-executive-michael-lynton-responds-to-president-obama/?iid=EL
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/24/the-interview-really-does-subvert-north-koreas-regime/
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/northwestvoices/2014/12/23/the-interview-it-is-not-free-speech-when-you-advocate-murder/
I think that these sanctions placed against North Korea were a bit premature. I feel that Obama and the rest of the United States government should have researched the hacking more and really found out whether it was the North Koreans that were behind it or someone that worked for Sony. Although I do not think that the North Koreans were behind the threats and the hack, I do think that they are taking this comedy film a bit too seriously. It was made by two actors who have a history for parody movies and they are known for making jokes out of serious situations, therefore the leader of North Korea should not have taken this as a real threat and believed the idea that the Americans wanted to assassinate him.
Although these sanctions will create some changes in the relationship between North Korea and the United States, this will not cause any changes in North Korea. The country does not have a positive relationship with many other countries, due to their outdated form of government, and I do not think that they will listen to the sanctions from the U.S. I agree with you that the sanctions are a good idea to fix the relationship between the United States and North Korea and to let them know that we will not stand for communism and a dictator in charge of the country. I am interested to learn whether or not people from North Korea were actually behind the cyber attack.
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