North Korea vows tough response to U.S. 'declaration of war' - KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 3rd Meeting of Activists in Fisheries under the Korean People's Army (KPA) in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang December 29, 2015. REUTERS/KCNA/File Photo

(Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it planned a tough response to what it deemed a "declaration of war" by the United States, after Washington blacklisted the nuclear-armed country's leader Kim Jong Un for the first time over human rights abuses. Pyongyang described the sanctioning of Kim as a "hideous crime," according to North Korea's official KCNA news agency. "What the U.S. did this time, not content with malignantly slandering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the worst crime that can never be pardoned," it cited the foreign ministry as saying. (Writing by Hugh Lawson)