(VOVworld) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday signed an executive order, imposing new sanctions against the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK) in response to what he called Pyongyang's "numerous provocations," particularly the latest cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The sanctions targeted three entities -- Reconnaissance General Bureau, Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation and Korea Tangun Trading Corporation, as well as 10 individuals who work for those entities or the DPRK government, denying them access to the U.S. financial system and banning them doing transactions with U.S. citizens according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The actions "will further isolate key North Korean entities and disrupt the activities of close to a dozen critical North Korean operatives", according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.