N. Korea Threatens Strikes On US 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 U.S. 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 U.S. blames North Korea for the cyberattack that escalated to
threats of terror attacks against U.S. 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
U.S.

"Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White
House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. 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 Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea has said it knows how to prove it had nothing to do with
the hacking and proposed a joint investigation with the U.S.

North Korea and the U.S., which fought each other in the 1950-53
Korean War, remain technically in a state of war because the conflict
ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S. stations about
28,500 troops in South Korea to deter aggression from North Korea.

The rivals are locked in an international standoff over the North's
nuclear and missile programs and its alleged human rights abuses. In
the spring of last year, tension dramatically rose after North Korea
issued a string of fiery threats to launch nuclear strikes against
Washington and Seoul.
--AP