HOLLYWOOD - Sony Pictures says it still hopes to release its controversial film about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The comedy, "The Interview," was the trigger for a massive computer attack on the Hollywood company, which U.S. authorities blamed on North Korea.

North Korea denied it was responsible for hacking into Sony Pictures' computer network and posting embarrassing emails, other private data and unreleased film projects on the Internet. However, the communist state praised the computer attack as "a righteous deed."

Pyongyang said it could prove it was not involved, and it proposed to carry out a joint investigation of the hacking with the United States.

In an odd footnote, an unidentified spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry then warned of "grave consequences" if Washington failed to accept the invitation to join an investigation.

In Washington on Saturday, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, Mark Stroh, said the U.S. stood by its assertion that North Korea was behind the cyberattack. He said, "The government of North Korea has a long history of denying responsibility for destructive and provocative actions.'' He said if Pyongyang wanted to help, it could admit its culpability and compensate Sony for the damages the attack caused.

In another development Saturday, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, encouraged the chief executive officers of 10 major cinema chains to show the movie. Priebus said he wanted it to be screened "to show North Korea we cannot be bullied into giving up our freedom."

Sony canceled the scheduled December 25th release of the satirical comedy at the center of the incident.

The hackers who penetrated the film company's computer network and stole thousands of documents call themselves "the Guardians of Peace." They warned there would be a "bitter fate" for anyone attending a public showing of the movie.

Sony Pictures Chairman Michael Lynton told reporters that the studio had no choice but to cancel the film's release, because American theaters were unwilling to show it. However, he told interviewers that Sony did not "give in" or "cave" (surrender) to the hackers, and that it was trying to find some format for showing the film, possibly through a video-on-demand service or over the Internet.

Speaking at the White House, President Barack Obama said Sony made a mistake in canceling the film release. The President said the United States is reviewing whether to put North Korea back onto its lists of state sponsors of terrorism following a cyber attack on Sony Pictures, which U.S. officials blame on the communist nation.

Speaking on CNN's State of the Nation Sunday, Obama said he did not consider the hack an act of war, but a very costly, very expensive example of cyber vandalism.

Oscar-winner George Clooney slammed Hollywood power players for not supporting Sony Pictures following the cyberattack. Clooney, in an interview with online trade publication Deadline.com, said no one would sign a petition he and his agent circulated to top Hollywood figures supporting the film's release. (Source: voanews.com)

Story Date: December 22, 2014