Is North Korea responsible?

It was not to along ago that the American company Sony Pictures Entertainment was cyber attacked by North Korea. Or so it seems. While the Obama Administration’s official stance and the stance of government cyber security experts is that North Korea was behind the cyber attack, independent cyber security experts have doubts and believe there is a possibility that the attack came from a third party hacking organization.

However for good or for ill the die has been cast, President Barack Obama this week announced that in light of the recent cyber attacks North Korea will face new United States sanctions.

In light of the discrepancies about who was behind the attack and North Korea’s subsequent actions I believe I was to hasty in deeming North Korea guilty in the Sony hack. While North Korea is certainly a rogue and tyrannical state its actions after news of the attack broke were not the actions of a guilty nation.

For one North Korea offered to help the US government find out whom was behind the hack and threatened the US if the US refused North Korea’s offer. I, and no doubt the US government, considered North Korea’s offer bizarre and ridiculous as I was certain they were behind the attack.

However in retrospect this offer makes sense especially if North Korea is not behind the attack after all. There is a political component of course, the Chinese government, which supports North Korea, does not approve when North Korea causes unnecessary trouble with the US. In fact the US asked China to help with preventing future attacks that come from North Korea.

The above factors combined with cyber security experts disagreeing on where the attack came from leads me to believe that North Korea was not behind the attack but was setups. This is a theory that cyber security experts have formulated as they believe that traces of North Korea’s code was planted to frame North Korea.

The Obama Administration immediately had a response by shutting down North Korea’s internet, which I believe was a correct move regardless if North Korea was behind the attacks as it disproportionally effects the North Korea elites and punishes them for their people suffering.

But now there are sanctions coming, which regardless of North Korea is guilty or not guilt of the cyber attacks, is the wrong move. Sanctions against North Korea will not effect Kim Jung-un or his inner circle, the sanctions will probably include North Koreas ability to export and prevent food aid from going into the country which will only effect the people of North Korea whom have no say in their government’s actions. Economic sanctions against North Korea will not work as their leaders stay fabulously wealthy by selling illegal arms to country’s such as Iran for hard currency. North Korean elites have little to no liquid assets that the US can freeze unlike sanctions passed against countries such as Russia.

In the end whether guilty or not sanctions, as they have been in the past, will be ineffective in harming Kim Jong-un’s regime. The United States sanctions will disproportionally harm the people of North Korea without harming its leadership. North Korea will become more hostile to aid organizations and it will become risky for aid organizations to bring food into the country. Sanctions that do little to weaken North Korea’ regime and harm its people should not be passed just so the US can appear to be retaliating against North Korea’s leadership.

Hacking Away at our Freedoms

Cyber warfare will usher in the next stage of conflict between nations. Cyber warfare is when one nation, through digital means, digitally attacks another nation. The attacks can target infrastructure, steal information, disrupt relations with international allies and are generally hard to pinpoint and punish. While seemingly less dangerous as other forms of conflict Cyber warfare and its co cyber terrorism cant threatened the national security of the United States and the American way of life.

Of course, why bring this up now? In the past few days Sony Entertainment was digitally attacked by unknown entity, this entity is assumed to be the rogue nation that is North Korea.

The theory is simple a plausible, Sony was scheduled to release the film the Interview starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, on December 25th. The films plot is that Franco and Rogan will conduct and interview Kim Jong-Un and attempt to kill him.

Image that appeared on Sony Entertainment’s computers after the hack

Not surprisingly North Korea, whom considers their national leader Kim Jong-Un a powerful savior, had a bit of a problem with the Interview. And so Sony was digitally attacked, disrupting the multinational companies for days and releasing confidential emails. The attacks and the emails sent the political and digital world into a tailspin.

While the US can respond and will respond, international laws regarding cyber warfare are difficult to enforce, and so little substantive harm will come to North Korea or at least to its leaders. To make matters worse, Sony along with several national movie theater chains decided, in light of the cyber attack, not to show the movie.

Political and entertainment scions President Barack Obama and George Clooney denounced the decisions believing its sets a dangerous precedent for censorship in the US by the decree of another nation.

I must agree, with President Obama and Clooney. Freedom of Speech, which film fall under, must be rigorously defended. Due to the actions of an outside nation, entertainment companies should not grovel to meet that nation’s demands.

The US must remain a place of free intellectual and cultural expression, a place were films like the Interview, that mock political leaders, can be shown and celebrated, if it does not, our very of life, our freedom to express ourselves, would slowly but surely unravel.

North Korea: A New Path?

Kim Jung Un is thought to currently be disposed of by high ranking members of the North Korean Military. Whether this means murdered or simply overthrown we have yet to know. Of course any speculation would be rumors but let us speculate. For one we all should have seen this coming, having a young, less than extraordinary man take control of a militaristic dictatorship is just asking for trouble. The trouble was exacerbated when Kim Jung Un began killing off high-ranking members of the military elite; he also caused tensions with the United States by actions ranging from the development of ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) to the detainment of American citizens. This change may yet change relations between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States, better yet it may benefit the lives of the North Korean’s.

North Korea now sits at a crossroads; I see the path ahead will lead to the development of a better North Korea. Let me preface my claims with this: under no circumstance is North Korea’s military elite benign selfless rulers. Yet they know the ruling family of North Korea has lead North Korea to a perpetual reputation as an international joke, a regime so insecure that it must keeps its people beyond ignorant just to hold onto power.

I believe I can see the future of North Korea, at least for the relative short term. For one the current ruling military will stop provoking the US, I believe that the North Korean military will wish to end severe sanctions against North Korea imposed by the US. These sanctions allow no food aid to go to North Korea due to its testing of ballistic missiles. I believe that North Korea’ military will work with the US in order to bring food to its starving population. Not out of altruism but to increase productivity, their comes a point when the suffering of ones people wreck economic havoc.

In the long term, if the military regime lasts, I see a North Korea with an improved economy, an improved society, sadly still a nation that I believe will combine the promise of capitalism with the horrors of autocracy.