President Obama had called the North "the most isolated, the most sanctioned, the most cut-off nation on Earth."
“We will keep on ratcheting the pressure, but part of what’s happening is… the Internet over time is going to be penetrating this country," AFP quoted the president as saying in a Youtube interview from the White House on Thursday.
“It’s brutal and it’s oppressive and as a consequence, the country can’t really even feed its own people,” the president said. “Over time, you will see a regime like this collapse,” he said, adding the US was looking for ways to accelerate the flow of information into the country.
"The recent wild remarks made by Obama are nothing but a poor grumble of a loser driven into a tight corner in the all-out stand-off with the DPRK," The Korea Herald quoted the ministry's unnamed spokesman telling the Korean Central News Agency. "This is little short of admitting himself that the US lacks ability to stifle the DPRK and that a military option is not workable."
The US is gravely mistaken if it believes it can stifle the North with sanctions and pressure, added the spokesman.
“We cannot but be shocked to find that Obama… is so preoccupied with the inveterate repugnancy and hostility towards a sovereign state," said the spokesman.
North Korea repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack on Sony, in which confidential data and emails were leaked.
The hackers also demanded that the company, as well as movie theaters, cancel the release of "The Interview", a comedy film about a plot to assassinate North Korean President Kim Jong-un.
