Alwaght- North Korea has furiously denounced the US for imposing sanctions in retaliation for the Pyongyang's alleged cyber-attack on Sony Pictures .
North Korea’s foreign ministry reiterated that it did not have any role in the breach of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files and accused the US of “groundlessly” stirring up hostility towards Pyongyang. He said the new sanctions would not weaken the country’s 1.2 million-strong military .
“The policy persistently pursued by the US to stifle the DPRK [North Korea], groundlessly stirring up bad blood towards it, will only harden its will and resolution to defend the sovereignty of the country,” North’s state-run KCNA news agency quoted the unnamed spokesman as saying on Sunday .
On Friday, the US sanctioned 10 North Korean government officials and three organizations, including Pyongyang’s primary intelligence agency and state-run arms dealer, in what the White House described as an opening move in the response towards the Sony cyber-attack.
North Korea expressed fury over The Interview, a Sony comedy about a fictional CIA plot to kill Kim Jong-un, slamming it as an “act of terror”. It denied hacking Sony, but called the act a “righteous deed ”.
Pyongyang has demanded a joint investigation into the attack and claimed US rejection of the proposal was proof of its guilty conscience and that it was seeking a pretext for further isolating North Korea .
“The persistent and unilateral action taken by the White House to slap ‘sanctions’ against the DPRK patently proves that it is still not away from inveterate repugnancy and hostility towards the DPRK,” the foreign ministry said .
The sanctions may have only a limited effect, as North Korea is already under tough US and international sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs .
