U.S. President Barack Obama authorized additional sanctions against North Korea in what he said was the first U.S. response to the cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, the White House said on Friday.
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The sanctions named three entities as well as 10 North Korean government officials, including individuals working in Iran, Syria, China, Russia and Namibia, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order that authorizes sanctions against agencies and officials associated with the North Korean government. (Doug Mills/Reuters)
It was not immediately clear what relationship the three entities, which were already under sanction for their links to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, had to the Sony hacking, although Washington said the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the military intelligence service, ran the North's cyber operations.
The 10 named individuals were not part of the North's top leadership and were linked to the companies that have already been sanctioned.
Pyongyang has been sanctioned by the United States since the 1950s and those measures have been tightened in the wake of the country's three nuclear weapons tests.
Excerpt from U.S. Treasury Department statement:
In response to the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s numerous provocations, particularly the recent cyber-attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment and the threats against movie theaters and moviegoers, President Obama today signed an Executive Order (E.O.) authorizing the imposition of sanctions against the Government of North Korea and the Workers’ Party of Korea. This step reflects the ongoing commitment of the United States to hold North Korea accountable for its destabilizing, destructive and repressive actions, particularly its efforts to undermine U.S. cyber-security and intimidate U.S. businesses and artists exercising their right of freedom of speech.
