Obama Praises Sony's Decision to Release ‘The Interview’ | WPN World People News

President Barack Obama is welcoming Sony Pictures' decision to release a controversial movie about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Sony pulled “The Interview” last week after its computers were hacked by unknown attackers who threatened more damage if the film was released as scheduled. The U.S. blamed North Korea for the cyberattack.

On Wednesday, Sony reversed its decision to cancel the movie, announcing a "limited theatrical release" that will see the film shown in dozens of theaters on December 25.

In a statement, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the president welcomes the move, which he said "allows people to make their own choices about the film."

President Obama had said Sony made a "mistake" in canceling the movie, saying it risks setting a precedent in which "dictators can start imposing censorship" in the U.S.

The Obama administration has vowed to respond to the cyberattack on Sony, but officials would not confirm or deny whether the U.S. retaliated by causing a brief North Korean Internet outage this week.

State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf would not comment on the matter.

"I leave it to the North Koreans to talk about if their Internet was up, if it wasn't, and why. We're just not going to entertain questions one way or the other about any of these questions about possible U.S. responses of any kind. And I would caution you from assuming, that because I'm not going to comment on them, that the answer means one thing or another," said Harf.

The U.S.-based Internet-monitoring company Dyn Research said the reason for the outage is not clear, but was consistent with "a fragile network under external attack."

North Korea has not commented on the disruption, which lasted about nine hours. But it has adamantly denied involvement in hacking Sony Pictures.

The FBI says it has evidence Pyongyang was behind the cyber hack, which resulted in leaks of embarrassing corporate emails, yet to be released films, and private employee data.

The hackers call themselves the "Guardians of Peace" and warned there would be a "bitter fate" for anyone attending a showing of “The Interview.”

Source: Voice of America