NEW YORK: North Korea insisted on Saturday it was not behind a damaging cybe­rattack on Sony Pictures and warned of “serious consequences” if the United States retaliates against it, the New York Times reported.

Pyongyang offered to prove its innocence by proposing a joint investigation with Wa­s­hi­n­gton to identify the hackers, the newspaper said.

The Times said: “The message, attributed to an unna­med foreign ministry spokesman and carried by North Korea’s state-run news service, appears to be the secretive regime’s response to President Obama’s statement the day before that the United States would retaliate for the hacking, which has shaken one of Hollywood’s largest studios”.

American officials said the hackers’ methods and other clues led them to conclude that North Korea was behind the attack, which resulted in the posting online of Sony’s confidential emails and unreleased movies, the Times said.

The cyberattack and also emailed threats of terrorist attacks against movie theatres prompted Sony to cancel the Christmas release of “The Interview”, a comedy about the assassination of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. North Korea has previously denied responsibility for the hacking, though it called the attacks a “righteous deed” by its “supporters and sympathisers.”

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2014