North Korea threatens attack on White House and Pentagon over Sony hack.KCNA via Reuters
North Korea has threatened to attack the White House, Pentagon and the entire US mainland as the war of words between Washington and Pyongyang intensifies.
Following President Barack Obama's direct accusation of North Korea's involvement in the Sony Pictures hacking scandal, Pyongyang's powerful National Defence Commission yet again denied any hand in the attack.
In a dispatch carried by the regime-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Commission said: "The DPRK [North Korea's official name] has already launched the toughest counteraction. Nothing is more serious miscalculation than guessing that just a single movie production company is the target of this counteraction. Our target is all the citadels of the US imperialists who earned the bitterest grudge of all Koreans,"
"Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism."
The North Korean statement added that Obama is "recklessly" spreading rumours that Pyongyang is behind the attack on Sony Pictures.
“Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism”
- North Korea on US
Even though such belligerence from the reticent nation is frequently used to drum up tensions regularly, the long statement from the Commission also highlights the North's fragile nature when it comes to mocking its leaders.
Sony Pictures has been forced to suspend the release of the movie The Interview, which revolves around the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Pyongyang's latest statement has come at a time when Obama is considering whether to place the country back on the terror list.
"We're going to review those through a process that's already in place. And we don't make those judgments just based on the news of the day. We look systematically at what's been done and based on those facts, we'll make those determinations in the future," Obama said in an interview with CNN adding the cyber attack on Sony Pictures does not tantamount to an act of war.
