United States President Barack Obama has authorized imposing heavy sanctions on North Korea in response to the hacking attacks against Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The White House said in a statement on Friday that President Obama has signed an executive order imposing additional sanctions against North Korea in response to what it called provocative and repressive actions and policies, in particular the cyber attack against Sony. 

Under the executive order, the U.S. Treasury Department has designated three North Korean entities - the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation and the Korea Tangun Trading Corporation - and ten individuals that will be subject to the latest sanctions.

These designated parties will be cut off from the U.S. financial system and barred from conducting transactions with U.S. nationals. 

Last month, Obama said that the U.S. will “respond proportionately” to the cyber attack on Sony, shortly after the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it had found evidence that Pyongyang was responsible for the attack on the company that produced "The Interview," a comedy film about an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.