S. Korea should strongly respond against N. Korea`s cyber attacks

North Korea’s Internet was cut off while Washington and Pyongyang were conflicting each other over “The Interview,” a movie about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The websites of the state-run Korean Central News Agency and the Workers’ Party newspaper Rodong Shinmun were down from 1 a.m. to 11 a.m. Though North Korea did not explain the cause, the internet outage is likely to be related to the row between the U.S. and North Korea.

When Sony Pictures tried to release “The Interview,” North Korea hacked the company to steal data and blackmailed it saying, “Remember the 9/11 attack.” The FBI said North Korea was responsible for the massive hack of the company and President Barack Obama promised a proportionate response. A State Department spokesperson did not deny that the U.S. government had any role in North Korea`s Internet problems, saying, on Tuesday, "As we implement our responses, some will be seen, some may not be.” An individual or a hacker group might have attempted a cyber attack as a retaliation for North Korea’s hacking of Sony Pictures. Some US media raised a possibility that Beijing might have blocked the internet service to the North temporarily. However, it is too early to conclude the case.

As a reclusive nation, North Korea uses the Internet through its intranet connected with internal optical fiber cables. The country has only 1,024 official Internet protocol addresses. Although the Internet disconnection would not have had a large impact on the country, Pyongyang threatened to retaliate the U.S. at President Obama’s remarks.

NATO recently held a large cyber war game in the eastern Estonian city of Tartu, which is 50 kilometers from the Russian border. The U.S. and China have been at odds over cyber penetration. If North Korea is involved in the hacking of South Korea’s nuclear operator, the South would face a serious security crisis. The South Korean government should sternly warn North Korea as the U.S., instead of being punched by the North, and if the North does not listen to, it should strongly retaliate the North.