Washington (AFP) – U.S. President Barack Obama warned Friday that Washington “will respond” to North Korea’s cyber attack on Sony Pictures over The Interview, a satirical film about a CIA plot to kill Kim Jong-Un.

Obama nevertheless said while he was “sympathetic” to Sony’s concerns about the threats to attack theaters screening the film, he believed the studio had erred in canceling its release.

“We will respond. We will respond proportionately and we’ll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose,” Obama told a press conference

“I’m sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. Having said all that, yes, I think they made a mistake,” he said.

“We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States.”