North Korea threatens attack on the White House

North Korea is accusing Barack Obama of ‘recklessly’ spreading rumours of a Pyongyang-orchestrated cyber-attack on Sony Pictures.

18:07 22 December 2014

North Korea has threatened strikes against the White House, the Pentagon and “the whole US mainland, that cesspool of terrorism” while accusing Barack Obama of “recklessly” spreading rumours that Pyongyang cyber attacked Sony Pictures.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, North Korean government said: “Our toughest counter-action will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the 'symmetric counter-action' declared by Obama.”

Meanwhile, Mr Obama said of North Korea: “We're not going to be intimidated by some cyber-hackers.” The president said the US would examine the facts to determine whether North Korea should go back on the terrorism sponsors list.

“We're going to review those through a process that's already in place,” he said. “I'll wait to review what the findings are.”

In related news, Mr Obama has renewed his criticism of Sony’s decision to cancel the screening of The Interview. Talking to CNN, he said: “You know, had they talked to me directly about this decision, I might have called the movie theatre chains and distributors and asked them what that story was,” he said.