President Obama Orders New Sanction Against North Korea

On Friday, President Obama signed an Executive Order to levy new sanctions against North Korea in response to the recent cyber hack on Sony, suspected to involve North Korea.

"The E.O. authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to impose sanctions on individuals and entities associated with the Government of North Korea," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. "We take seriously North Korea's attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression.

"As the President has said, our response to North Korea's attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment will be proportional, and will take place at a time and in a manner of our choosing. Today's actions are the first aspect of our response."

Following a hack on Sony Pictures, the film company responsible for THE INTERVIEW, the company received a threat saying that if they released the film, a "9/11-like" disaster would befall them. Many national chain cinemas thus cancelled the intended Christmas Day release last week.

Last week, Sony decided to pull the James Franco-Seth Rogan led film from theaters following threats of violence from hackers working for North Korea. In a speech last week, President Obama criticized the studio for being "intimidated by these kind of criminal attacks.' Sony responded that the cancellation came only after theater chains and other streaming sites refused to show the film.

Sony eventually decided to release THE INTERVIEW in select movie theatres on Christmas Day, as BroadwayWorld previously reported.

North Korea's National Defense accused President Obama of blackmailing theatres to show THE INTERVIEW, yesterday, as BroadwayWorld previously reported.

THE INTERVIEW follows Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) who run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show "Skylark Tonight." When they discover that North Korean leader 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.

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