The US government instituted new sanctions against North Korea on Friday in response to the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment, dpa reported. The move "is a response to the government of North Korea's ongoing provocative, destabilizing and repressive actions and policies, particularly its destructive and coercive cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "We take seriously North Korea's attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a US company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression." The sanctions target North Korea's intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau; arms dealer Korea Mining Development Trading Corportation and Korea Tangun Trading Corporation, which is responsible for procurement for North Korean defence research and development programmes, the Treasury Department said. -- SPA 23:07 LOCAL TIME 20:07 GMT تغريد
