North Korea threatened Thursday a "hail of bullets and shells" on United States territory in response to new sanctions imposed over its alleged involvement in the hack of the Sony Corporation.
"The U.S. took part in wars of aggression, big and small, including two world wars. But it has never experienced a hail of bullets and shells on its own territory," North Korea's statement said.
"The U.S. should roll back its hostile policy towards the DPRK of its own accord if it does not want to suffer a war disaster."
The new sanctions target 10 North Korean individuals and three defense industry agencies, and prevents them from using the U.S. financial system, also allowing Washington to freeze U.S.-linked assets of nearly any North Korean, reported The Christian Science Monitor.
"The U.S. should lift all unreasonable 'sanctions' against the DPRK in all fields," the statement continued. "We have taken this stand because all 'sanctions' the U.S. has imposed against the DPRK so far are based on the inveterate hostility and repugnancy towards it and Washington's hostile policy towards it. This is also because 'sanctions' were invented under absurd pretexts and conditions.
"The U.S. should properly know that its attempt to infringe upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and bring down its dignified social system by force of arms will never come true."
Pyongyang warned that the country has already launched "the toughest counteraction," but did not clarify what that counteraction was, reported the International Business Times.
"The U.S. should not forget even a moment that the army and people of the DPRK have already launched the toughest counteraction," said North Korea. "We have already declared the toughest counteraction against the outrageous hostile acts the U.S. has perpetrated against the DPRK."
In December, hackers calling themselves the "Guardians of Peace" stole nearly 100 terabytes of data from Sony, warning that it would release the data if the company went forward with the release of the movie "The Interview."
U.S. officials, including the FBI, claim all evidence points to North Korea as the culprit, but North Korea adamantly denies responsibility. Many private sector security experts in the U.S. say evidence of North Korea's involvement is circumstantial at best.
