N’Korea threatens US over hacking claims

North Korea has said US President Barack
Obama is “recklessly” spreading rumors of a
Pyongyang-orchestrated cyberattack on Sony
Pictures and warned of strikes against “the whole
US mainland, that cesspool of terrorism.”
Pyongyang specifically threatened the White
House and the Pentagon in a long statement
from the powerful National Defense Commission
late on Sunday.
Such North Korean rhetoric during times of high
tension with Washington is routine. But it also
underscores the country’s sensitivity over a movie
whose plot focuses on the assassination of
leader Kim Jong-un.
The US blames North Korea for the cyberattack
that escalated to threats of terror attacks
against US movie theaters and caused Sony to
cancel “The Interview’s” release.
The United States is now considering whether to
put North Korea back on its list of state sponsors
of terror, Obama said on Sunday.
“We’re going to review those through a process
that’s already in place,” the president said in an
interview aired on Sunday on CNN’s “State of the
Union”.
“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.”