North Korean spy to be charged in connection with 2014 Sony hack

The Justice Department is expected to bring charges against a North Korean spy in connection with the 2014 Sony hack.

U.S. officials reportedly plan to charge Park Jin Hyok, who they believe to have helped carry out the attack against Sony at the behest of the North Korean intelligence service, known as the Reconnaissance General Bureau, per The Washington Post. The attack took place in the months leading up to the planned release of The Interview, a film starring Seth Rogen and James Franco about a plan to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. A group identifying itself as the Guardians of Peace released a massive amount of top-secret information from inside the studio, as well as personal information about employees and some full unreleased films.

The North Korean national is also believed to be linked to the Lazarus Group, an organization previously involved in a number of high-profile cyberattacks going back to 2009, when U.S. and South Korean websites were infected with the virus MyDoom, Business Insider reports. The Reconnaissance General Bureau is also believed to be responsible for the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack, The Washington Post previously reported.

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This news comes just a few hours after President Trump thanked Kim on Twitter for saying nice things about him.