The move follows US President Obama's statement that the US will respond proportionally to the alleged North Korean cyber-attack that has caused damage to Sony Pictures entertainment.
“What we are looking for is a blocking action, something that would cripple their efforts to carry out attacks,” the newspaper quotes one official as saying, without disclosing his name.
According to the newspaper, co-operation with Beijing would be critical, since virtually all of North Korea’s telecommunications run through Chinese-operated networks.
China has not responded so far and it remains unclear whether it will choose to cooperate, as far back as May the US Department of Justice indicted five members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, charging them with hacking into the networks of Westinghouse Electric, the United States Steel Corporation and other companies and stealing sensitive information.
Pyongyang even suggested setting up a joint investigation into the incident with Washington, according to a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman.
The spokesman also added that if the United States refused to cooperate on the joint investigation, but continued to accuse North Korea, there would be “grave consequences”.
The US however has dismissed the joint probe offer.
"If the North Korean government wants to help, they can admit their culpability and compensate Sony for the damages this attack caused," AFP quotes US National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh as saying.
Earlier this week, Sony decided to halt the release of "The Interview", a comedy about an assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The decision came after the company was threatened by hackers, who released Sony's e-mails, files and personal information, exposing it to lawsuits.
