US sanctions North Korea over Sony hack and classifies attack evidence
The US is lobbing fresh sanctions against North Korea as a response to the cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment even as President Barack Obama's administration refuses to provide evidence of Pyongyang's involvement.
The latest sanctions against North Korea's defense apparatus, its state-owned arms exporter, and 10 individuals are largely symbolic. The country is already deeply isolated from the world over its nuclear ambitions. Still, it's the first time the US has imposed sanctions against a nation to retaliate over the hack of an American company. Pyongyang has denied involvement. On Sunday, it lashed out at the White House.
"The policy persistently pursued by the US to stifle the DPRK (North Korea), groundlessly stirring up bad blood towards it, would only harden its will and resolution to defend the sovereignty of the country," the country's state-run KCNA news agency quoted its foreign ministry spokesman as saying. "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 toward the DPRK."
