Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) wants to slap banking sanctions on North Korea in response to the Sony Pictures cyberattack and terror threats related to the film “The Interview.”
Royce, who is the GOP chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told radio host Hugh Hewitt Wednesday evening that the United States needs to “respond as a country” to the attacks that the government now believes came from North Korea.
In particular, Royce suggested that we impose sanctions that freeze North Korea off from the international banking system and prevent financial institutions from doing business with the country.
“When you freeze the accounts at the banks and you tell the institutions, ‘You’re either going to do business with the United States or you’re going to do business with North Korea,'” Royce explained, “they all make the decision, ‘Okay, we’ll freeze the account.’ That’s what we should do.”
Royce added later that it’s crucial that the U.S. reacts to the hacks by “showing that there’s a cost of this kind of assault into the United States.” He also emphasized the need for us to “go forward with cyber infrastructure security.”
Listen to the congressman’s interview with the “Hugh Hewitt Show” below.
