North Korea proposes joint inquiry into Sony hacking case

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea proposed a joint investigation with the U.S. into the hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, warning of “serious” consequences if Washington rejects a probe that it believes would prove Pyongyang had nothing to do with the cyberattack.

The proposal was seen by analysts as a ploy by the North to try to show that it is sincere, even though it knows the U.S. would never accept its offer.

U.S. officials blame North Korea for the hacking, citing the tools used in the Sony attack and previous hacks linked to the North, and have vowed to respond. The break-in resulted in the disclosure of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files, and escalated to threats of terror attacks against U.S. movie theaters that caused Sony to cancel the Christmas Day release of “The Interview,” a comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

On Saturday, an unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang proposed the joint investigation with the U.S., saying the North knows how to prove it’s not responsible for the hacking.

“We have a way to prove that we have nothing to do with the case without resorting to torture, as the CIA does,” he said in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency.

On Friday, President Barack Obama said Sony “made a mistake” in shelving the film.