The Obama administration announced on Friday it would impose new sanctions on the government of North Korea as a response to the Sony Pictures cyber attack. Though North Korea is no stranger to sanctions, this is the first retaliation from the U.S. following the hacking incident.

The White House released a statement concerning the new executive order. In it, the press secretary explains how North Korea's continued "provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies," especially its hacking attack on Sony Pictures over the movie "The Interview," led to this response.

"The E.O. [executive order] authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to impose sanctions on individuals and entities associated with the Government of North Korea. We take seriously North Korea's attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression," explained the press secretary.

Addressing Speaker of the House and President of the U.S. Senate formally in a letter, President Barack Obama issued the new executive order.

"I have now determined that that the provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies of the Government of North Korea, including its destructive, coercive cyber-related actions during November and December 2014... constitute a continuing threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," the president wrote, adding that they would not target the North Korean people but only the government leadership.

Members of the Worker's Party of Korea and the government of North Korea as well as any organization owned by the abovementioned entities are affected. Also, the order will apply to anyone who has helped the North Korean government.

The Treasury Department targets three organizations and ten people in the new sanctions, according to a statement. These include various government officials who represent North Korea in African nations, Iran, Syria and Russia.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew also cites the Sony Pictures hack as a reason for the sanctions.

"Today's actions are driven by our commitment to hold North Korea accountable for its destructive and destabilizing conduct. Even as the FBI continues its investigation into the cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, these steps underscore that we will employ a broad set of tools to defend U.S. businesses and citizens, and to respond to attempts to undermine our values or threaten the national security of the United States," he said, explaining that they would further isolate the country.

However, as the New York Times points out, the sanctions will not do much as North Korea and its organizations are already heavily sanctioned.