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N. Korea threatens U.S. with additional retaliation

By Ed Adamczyk
The New York premiere of "The Interview" was cancelled on Dec. 16. UPI/Jim Ruymen
The New York premiere of "The Interview" was cancelled on Dec. 16. UPI/Jim Ruymen | License Photo

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- In a strongly-worded statement, North Korea threatened additional retaliation for production of the Hollywood film "The interview."

The long statement from North Korea's National Defense Commission, whose chief is North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, called for unspecified attacks against the White House, Pentagon and "the whole U.S. mainland," accused the White House of involvement in the film and denied the nation was behind the cyberattacks against Sony Pictures Entertainment, the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese Sony Corp., as it prepared to release the film, a fictional comedy about an assassination attempt against Kim.

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The statement, released by the North Korean state-run news agency KCNA, also said the United States was incorrect to blame North Korea for the cyberattacks and used phrasing typical of official statements, referring to the United States as a "cesspool of terrorism."

"Nothing is (a) more serious miscalculation than guessing that just a single movie production company is the target of this counteraction. Our target (are) all the citadels of the US imperialists who earned the bitterest grudge of all Koreans. The army and people of the DPRK (North Korea) are fully ready to stand in confrontation with the U.S. in all war spaces, including cyber-warfare to blow up those citadels," the statement said, using the formal name for North Korea.

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In a separate announcement, Pyongyang said it would not take part in an upcoming United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss North Korea's human rights records. Last week the U.N. General Assembly voted to recommend a trial in the International Criminal Court.

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