US considers putting North Korea on terror list

WASHINGTON - The United States is mulling whether or not to place North Korea back onto its list of state sponsors of terrorism, President Barack Obama said Sunday following the communist nation's alleged cyber attack on Sony Pictures.

"We're going to review those through a process that's already in place," the president said in an pre-taped interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

"And we don't make those judgments just based on the news of the day. We look systematically at what's been done and based on those facts, we'll make those determinations in the future."

Washington accuses Pyongyang of being behind a hacking at Sony which led to the release of embarrassing emails and caused executives to halt the release of the madcap comedy action film "The Interview."

The film about a fictional CIA plot to kill the country's leader infuriated North Korea.
 

(Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Obama's remarks, in the interview which taped on Friday, followed a call from a leading US senator to re-consider North Korea's terror designation.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, saying the Pyongyang regime had set a "dangerous precedent" through cyber attacks that were "able to inflict significant economic damage on a major international company."

The State Department rescinded its designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in October 2008.

Currently, the list includes just four countries: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

Obama has asked the State Department to consider removing Cuba, following the historic thawing of relations between the two Cold War rivals announced earlier this week.


AFP


Also related to this story

North Korea seeks joint probe into Sony hack

Obama to N. Korea over Sony hack: 'We will respond'

N. Korea denies involvement in Sony cyber attack

Sony cancels release of film on N. Korea leader