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Will North Korea replace Cuba on terror list?

Obama told CNN's Candy Crowley that he did not consider the attack on Sony's cybersecurity an "act of war."

By Brooks Hays
President Barack Obama said he will consider adding North Korea back onto the list of terrorist states. File Photo by UPI/Pat Benic.
President Barack Obama said he will consider adding North Korea back onto the list of terrorist states. File Photo by UPI/Pat Benic. | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The list of countries that United States consider sponsors of terror will likely get smaller in the coming days, with Cuba expected to be removed. But President Obama says he will now consider adding North Korea.

North Korea itself was removed from the list six years ago. But the totalitarian dictatorship could find itself back in the company of Iran, Sudan and Syria. The country ruled by Kim Jong Un was recently blamed for a cyber attack the resulted in the leaking of a litany of email exchanges between top executives at Sony.

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But Obama says any decision to add North Korea back to the list would be based a comprehensive review of the country's behavior, not a reaction to a specific instance.

"We have got very clear criteria as to what it means for a state to sponsor terrorism, and we don't make those judgments just based on the news of the day," President Obama told CNN in an interview on Sunday. "We look systematically at what's been done."

Obama told CNN's Candy Crowley that he did not consider the attack on Sony's cybersecurity an "act of war."

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"It was an act of cybervandalism," he said during the taped segment of State of the Union.

The escalating tension between North Korea and the U.S. comes as President Obama attempts to normalize relations with Cuba. Cuba has yet to be removed form the State Department's "State Sponsors of Terrorism" list, and the president would not say if or when he would do so. But Obama admitted that it would be difficult to open dialogue with Cuba while it is still on the list.

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