US President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Friday, imposing sanctions on three North Korean organisations and ten individuals.

The retaliatory measures come as a response to the recent cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, for which North Korea has been accused, the BBC reminds.

The sanctions target North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, its primary arms dealer Komid, government officials and representatives of its defence industry in Russia, Iran and Syria.

The sanctions are to be of symbolic value, as trade between the US and North Korea is minuscule.

They are targeted at North Korea's defence industry in order to deter further cyber attacks.

The latest tension between the two countries started with the announced release of “The Interview” movie, which portrays the assassination of Kim Jong-un by two journalists who have been hired by the CIA.

A group styling itself as the Guardians of Peace hacked the computer systems of producer Sony and threatened to carry out terrorist attacks on cinemas showing the movie.

The US accused North Korea as responsible for the hack, while Pyongyang denied any involvement, even calling for a joint investigation on the cyber attack, which Washington rejected.

Following a severe internet outage North Korea blamed US as responsible for it.