Questions are starting to asked about the punishment for North Korea, now the prime suspect in the Sony Pictures attack last month.

In an interview broadcast on Sunday, President Obama made it clear North Korea will face consequences for the action, but refuted claims the attack was "an act of war".

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Instead, Obama coined the phrase "cyber vandalism" to label the shutdown of Sony Pictures' internal systems, alongside the theft of 100TB of information on the system, redistributed on the internet.

Labelling the attack an act of war would be strange, considering acts of war against the U.S. tend to end in an invasion/neutralisation of the current government.

Using the new term of "cyber vandalism" allows the U.S. to treat this as a typical terrorist nation hurting U.S. economic interests. As such, the Obama Administration will push to see North Korea back on the 'state-sponsors of terrorism' list.

It will not be Obama deciding North Korea's final fate however, the State Department will weigh in on the appropriate action, alongside other defense departments.

The U.S. is still withholding information on how North Korea is the prime suspect for the Sony Pictures hack. The two goals of the #GOP group and North Korea seem to align - they both want The Interview out of cinemas - but the evidence connecting the two organisation is still undisclosed.

North Korea has said they will work with the U.S. to find the #GOP group, even threatening the U.S. if they do not work with North Korea.

Security analysts were saying, a week prior North Korea is unlikely to be behind the attack, due to the way the #GOP was acting, going on a public crusade against Sony Pictures.

Leaking information freely onto the internet is not typical state-sponsored behavior, and the #GOP has shown they will move from one motive to the next, first demanding money, then "equality" and now the removal of The Interview from cinemas.

The #GOP will reportedly leak more information on Christmas, which may be interesting considering the current climate.

TagsSony Pictures, Barack Obama, U.S., State Department, North Korea, The Interview, hack, GOP