For those who are unaware, North Korea has publicly stated its disdain for the upcoming action comedy The Interview, which sees two clueless news reporters contracted to assassinate Kim Jong-un. Specifically, the country has promised that there will be stern punishment for Sony if they actually release the film as planned.
Now, it seems that North Korea wasn’t messing around when they made that threat, as Sony Pictures suffered an attack on their network infrastructure earlier this week, which is believed to have been done by Chinese hackers working for North Korea.
Sony said on Tuesday that they experienced a system disruption, which they are working diligently to resolve. Furthermore, a group of anonymous Internet terrorists known as Guardians of Peace left images on the monitors of multiple employees explaining that they will release sensitive information about Sony onto the Internet. Apparently, Redditers have found some of the data, but none of it seems to be anything crucial or dangerous so far.
Ever since a trailer for The Interview was released, the film has constantly found itself at the center of controversy. What we have learned today though is that North Korea is treating this very seriously and is not bluffing, so Sony should approach things cautiously from here on out. While I don’t think anything too extreme will end up happening, it will definitely be interesting to see how North Korea reacts once the film hits theatres.
In the action-comedy The Interview, Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show “Skylark Tonight.” When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of the show, they land an interview with him in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists. As Dave and Aaron prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans change when the CIA recruits them, perhaps the two least-qualified men imaginable, to assassinate Kim Jong-un.