Two oppressive regimes were in the news recently—North Korea and Cuba. The first is alleged to be behind the recent hacking attack at Sony Pictures, and the threat for a 9/11-style attack if the entertainment conglomerate went ahead with plans for a Christmas Day release of a comedy that depicts an assassination attempt on its Dear Leader, Kim Jung-un. The second made headlines for a very different reason: A prisoner exchange and the first attempts at normalization of relations between the two countries in more than half a century.

The news about the attack on Sony and the subsequent threat is disturbing; more so for the corporation’s initial decision by Sony to pull the picture. It is understandable that, faced with major theater chains declaring they would not allow “The Interview” to be shown and the possibility, however faint, of a genuine attack on the audiences, Sony did what it did and shelved the movie.

But this act of censorship being dictated to U.S....