ON THE DEFENSIVE

Sony Hack: N. Korea Warns of Retaliation

Over U.S. punishment.

North Korea threatened that any U.S. punishment over the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack would result in retaliation with targets including the White House and the Pentagon, according to a statement from the Kim Jong Un-led National Defense Commission. In a statement published Sunday by the official Korean Central News Agency, the NDC said the Guardians of Peace, the group responsible for the widespread hack that caused Sony to cancel its release of The Interview, is “sharpening bayonets not only in the U.S. mainland but in all other parts of the world.” The commission added that North Korea doesn’t know who is behind the Guardians of Peace but that it is prepared to confront the U.S. and has already entered “an unprecedented state of ultra-harsh counterwarfare.” Over the weekend, President Obama said he would consider putting North Korea back on the terror list. The country was removed in 2008 after 20 years. “The just struggle to be waged by them across the world will bring achievements thousands of times greater than the hacking attack,” the NDC statement said.