Obama promises punitive strike on North Korea after kiss-and-make up with Cuba

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Friday threatened with North Korea with "proportional" retaliation "at a time and place" of US choosing for alleged cyberterrorism against Sony Pictures that compelled the studio to hold back release of a satirical movie on the weird country’s dictator.
The FBI confirmed earlier in the day that North Korea was behind the hacking of Sony computers, which Pyongyong denied hours after Obama’s threat, offering a joint probe with Washington to get to the bottom of the issue.Amid speculation that China, which patronizes the maverick North Korean regime, may also be connected to the events, Obama said the US had no indication North Korea was acting in conjunction with another country.
READ ALSO: FBI blames North Korea for Sony hack
The president also criticized Sony Entertainment, the US subsidiary of the Japanese-origin company for buckling to Pyongyang’s bullying by withdrawing the Christmas time release of the movie "The Interview". The film is a satirical take on North Korea’s crazy dictator, and shadowy proxies have threatened to bomb theaters showing the movie.
READ ALSO: Sony denies having 'caved', still plans movie release
"I think they made a mistake," Obama said at his year-end news conference at the White House, later adding, "I wish they’d spoken to me first. I would have told them: Do not get into the pattern in which you are intimidated."

A security guard stands at the entrance of United Artists theater during the premiere of the film 'The Interview' in Los Angeles, on December 11, 2014.
"We cannot have a society in which a dictator in some place can start imposing censorship in the United States," Obama said, in words that were also echoed by the actor George Clooney. If Hollywood backed down over threats relating to a satirical movie, he said, "imagine what they start doing with undesirable documentaries or news reports."
On its part Sony denied, rather unconvincingly, that it had canceled release of the film amid speculation that it will be quietly released online.
READ ALSO: Sony hacking treated as serious national security matter, US says
But it was the certitude with which the US President spoke of a punitive response, opening a new front in a week where he has just turned around hostile ties with Cuba, which was quite striking. While Obama said the response "not something that I will announce today here at a press conference," North Korea has very little to lose.
It is already sanctioned heavily and has no infrastructure to speak of, unless Washington decides to take out the dictator himself. US officials are said to be working on a range of options that will be presented to the President during his vacation in Hawaii.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un looking through binoculars at a military outpost near the border with South Korea.
The year-end press conference was also striking for Obama’s assertion that he is not done yet in office, and far from being a lame-duck president, the world can expect surprises in the final stretch of his presidency. "My presidency’s entering the fourth quarter. Interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter," he quipped, having already surprised the world by engineering a turnaround with Cuba.
READ ALSO: North Korea says did not hack Sony, wants joint probe with US
Amid speculation that he will also visit Cuba or host Cuban President Raul Castro before his term ends in 2017, Obama said "we’re not at that stage," although he suggested he expects to one day visit the island nation, even if it comes after he leaves office.
Obama also insisted America is better off now than when he came to office. "All around the world, America is leading," he said. "Pick any metric you want — America’s resurgence is real."