North Korea responds to tighter US sanctions

North Korea has responded angrily to tighter US sanctions over the recent cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, with Pyongyang saying it had nothing to do with the hacking and accusing Washington of stirring up hostility.

The hack by a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace breached tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files.

The FBI believes the focus of the attack was on The Interview, a movie depicting the fictional assassination of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, and it's the first time the US has sanctioned a country for a cyber attack on an American company.

The North Koreans have denied any involvement, saying claims were "wild rumour", but it has praised it. A Pyongyang foreign ministry spokesman said the fresh round of sanctions would not weaken North Korea's 1.2-million-strong army or its policy of Songun, which puts the military first in all affairs of state.

Likely culprits

Cybersecurity experts have cast doubt on the involvement of North Korea, saying hackers or former Sony employees were more likely culprits.

In a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, the unnamed spokesman said the sanctions were evidence of America’s “inveterate repugnancy and hostility toward the DPRK” (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).

Over the weekend, Mr Obama signed off on US treasury sanctions blacklisting North Korean arms exporters in response to “destructive, coercive cyber-related actions during November and December 2014”.

“The policy persistently pursued by the US to stifle the DPRK, groundlessly stirring up bad blood toward it, would only harden its will and resolution to defend the sovereignty of the country,” the spokesman said via KCNA.

"Now is the time for the US to know that its sanctions did not weaken the DPRK but proved counter-productive as shown by the DPRK's measures to further sharpen the treasured sword of Songun."

Arms operations

The sanctions target three leading North Korean intelligence and arms operations – Reconnaissance General Bureau, Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation and research group

Korea Tangun

Trading Corporation, as well as 10 officials involved in Pyongyang’s arms exports.

The individuals are denied access to the US financial system and banned from transactions with US citizens.

The sanctions aim to restrict these companies' access to international financial services by locking them out of the American financial system. The decision will cause anxiety in Pyongyang, as previous punitive sanctions have been successful in targeting the leadership's direct revenue streams outside of North Korea. The move puts additional pressure on North Korea's ally, China, to use its influence with Pyongyang.

Pyongyang has criticised the US for dismissing the DPRK's proposal for a joint probe into the cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. It has also blamed Washington for internet outages.

Mr Obama has warned Pyongyang that Washington was considering whether to put North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism.