North Korean diplomat denies Pyongyang role in Sony hack

A North Korean diplomat has denied Pyongyang was behind a crippling cyber attack on Sony Pictures, which is about to release a comic movie about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The New York-based diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Voice of America broadcast network on Wednesday that linking North Korea to the hacking of Sony Pictures' computers was "another fabrication targeting the country".

"My country publicly declared that it would follow international norms banning hacking and piracy," the diplomat said.

The denial from North Korea regarding the Sony hacking comes despite sources telling Reuters that cyber investigators have found connections to North Korea in the form of hacking tools similar to those used by that country in previous attacks on South Korea.

On Christmas Day, Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony, will release "The Interview" starring James Franco and Seth Rogen as American journalists who are recruited by the CIA to kill Kim after the authoritarian leader grants them an interview.

In June, the Pyongyang government denounced the film as "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war" in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Sony has struggled to get all of its systems back up since its network was breached on Nov. 24. Studio executives told staff in a memo on Tuesday that they still did not know the "full scope of information that the hackers might have or release".