"The U.S. anti-DPRK hostile act that kicked off from the outset of the year is aimed to save its face and tarnish the image of the DPRK in the international arena at any cost," the spokesman said in a statement published by the state-owned Korean Central News Agency.
On Friday, the White House announced that the United States would impose additional sanctions on North Korea in response to the November cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The FBI placed the blame for the attack on Pyongyang, stating that it bore similarities to earlier attacks carried out by North Korean hackers. The claims were denied by North Korea.
The new round of sanctions shows that the United States is "still not away from inveterate repugnancy and hostility", the spokesman stated, stressing that previous sanctions have failed to weaken North Korea and proved to be counter-productive.
Sony Pictures Entertainment, a US subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, found itself in the midst of a hacking scandal in late November as internal company information was leaked. The cyberattack came some two weeks ahead of the planned premiere of The Interview, a film about a fictional assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
