US must 'fight fire with fire' or N Korea will hack again

Dr Bruce Bennett, a senior defence analyst and Korea expert at the RAND Corporation, watched The Interview at Sony's request. He says North Korean hackers operating from China have a history of cyber-terrorism, and that without a strong US response tothe attack on Sony Pictures, they're likely to do it again.

 

Is there anything in The Interview for North Korea to actually beafraid of?

In North Korean culture Kim Jong Un is a god. Therefore, the movieis blasphemy against their god. And we know from Judeo-Christian backgrounds the penalty for blasphemy in many societies ... They're generally very upset about it from that perspective. The second major issue is that they don't want to see that film get on DVD and get into North Korea. There's a fair amount of evidence that especially the younger North Korean elite are pretty unhappy with Kim Jong Un, and they don't want them to get any ideas about how people could defy him, or attack him, about how he is really acting, and that sort of thing. So that, I believe, is probably even the major reason why they're upset. They're concerned about their internal control.

 

Do you think that a film coming from the US into North Korea via DVD could pose an actual threat to the regime?

Would it cause somebody to go out and shoot him? Probably not. But they are fighting a battle against outside influence. For example,South Korean DVDs from the South Korean soap operas are very, very popular in North Korea. And every once in a while they gather up acouple of people who are caught watching the DVDs and they shoot them. Because they're trying to turn off this interest in the outside world and in outside views. Because there are fears that it's goingto, over time, undermine the control of the regime.I think North Korea did this in part because they don't want the DVDgetting into their country. ... Sony ought to make at least a partialDVD, give 100,000 or so copies to the North Korean defectors in SouthKorea who run balloons and things like that into the North, and beprepared to fight fire with fire.

 

How likely would something like that be, given Sony's actions upto this point?

I don't think that Sony is going to do that. But I think thatthere is a contrast between American and North Korean culture. InAmerican culture, we like to be peace lovers and such. In NorthKorean culture, they understand strength. And until you demonstratestrength to them, they're going to take every advantage possible.If something isn't done here, this is not the last attack that isgoing to occur. And North Korea isn't the only potential attacker.

 

Does the Sony hack open a new chapter in cyber terrorism?

I think it does, if we don't respond strongly. The basicprinciples of deterrence are pretty simple. If a country thinks it'sgoing to gain a benefit, and to not suffer serious cost from anaction, they are likely to do it. So unless we can convince NorthKorea that either we're taking away their ability to do it or weregoing to impose serious costs, they are going to feel inclined to doit again when they have reason to do it.

 

What would convince them?

I think we have to take several steps. I think we need to beprepared to do a release of the DVD, and get it into the hands ofpeople who can get it into North Korea. ... I think the US governmenthas to be prepared to go to China and say, look, it's pretty likelythat this attack occurred from China. ... You need to tell thesepeople to take a hike and go back to North Korea.

 

So do you dispute the US's assertion that North Korea acted alone?

The US is saying that they believe that this was North Koreanhackers. But it's widely understood that North Korean hackers, someof them, work from offices in China. That's probably not Xi Jinping,the leader of China, saying, oh yeah, bring the North Korean hackersin. But somebody, somewhere in the bureaucracy, is allowing that tohappen. And that's therefore a major issue I believe the US ought topursue with the Chinese leadership.