North Korea threatens strikes on America amid hacking claims

President Barack Obama is “recklessly” spreading rumors of a Pyongyang-orchestrated cyberattack of Sony Pictures, North Korea says, as it warns of strikes against the White House, Pentagon and “the whole US mainland, that cesspool of terrorism.” 

Such rhetoric is routine from North Korea’s massive propaganda machine during times of high tension with Washington.

But a long statement from the powerful National Defense Commission late Sunday also underscores Pyongyang’s sensitivity at a movie whose plot focuses on the assassination of its leader Kim Jong Un, who is the beneficiary of a decades-long cult of personality built around his family dynasty. 

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. 

Obama, who promised to respond “proportionately” to the attack, told CNN’s “State of the Union” in an interview broadcast Sunday that Washington is reviewing whether to put North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The National Defense Commission, led by Kim, warned that its 1.2 million-member army is ready to use all types of warfare against the US. 

“Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the ‘symmetric counteraction’ declared by Obama,” said the commission’s Policy Department in a statement carried by the official North Korean Central News Agency.