North Korea Denies Boston Marathon Bombing Conspiracy Theory

As the world debates the causes and motivations behind the Boston Marathon bombings, North Korea would like to get one thing straight: No matter what all U.S. conservatives are saying, Pyongyang isn't responsible for the tragedy.

In the country's first official response to the attacks, the Korean Central News Agency, the North's state-run news service, condemned an article from American website World Net Daily that suggested Pyongyang had secretly planned the bombings which took the lives of 3 people and injured 264.

"Pyongyang, April 20 (KCNA) - The U.S. internet newspaper World Net Daily speaking for U.S. conservative forces recently released a false story linking the bomb explosion during the Boston Marathon to the DPRK. It reported the misinformation that the DPRK used such an agent as Al Qaeda for attacking the U.S.," wrote the KCNA Wednesday.

"The DPRK categorically dismisses this anti-DPRK ruckus made by the conservative daily bereft of any elementary appearance as a medium as a false propaganda which does not deserve even a passing not," KCNA added.

North Korea goes on to argue that World Net Daily's article is just a small part of a larger clandestine U.S. government "sinister plot" to start a war with Pyongyang. The insular nation's statement further alleges that the website is working in secret with President Barack Obama to put North Korea back on a list of countries that sponsor terrorism. President George W. Bush had the North taken off the list in 2008.

The North's statement is particularly odd when you take into account that World Net Daily is infamous for its criticism of the Obama administration, and espousing conspiracy theories like the belief that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen.

While North Korea swears the nation did not plan the Boston bombings, Pyongyang's statement stops short of condemning the attacks, reminding the U.S. that if the North were to strike America it would never feel the need to hide afterwards.

"When the DPRK feels necessary to strike the U.S., it would not resort to such heinous terrorism in hiding," said KCNA.

"The U.S. conservative forces should have felt ashamed of its behavior to tarnish the image of the DPRK, a full-fledged nuclear weapons state, through such mean practice."

North Korea has made a point in recent months of displaying its national strength and military brawn by threatening the U.S. and South, as well as engaging in provocative military exercises aimed at South Korean and U.S. targets.

Many experts on the region say North Korea's nearly-endless flood of aggressive proclamations and threatening actions is meant to pressure the U.S. into "disarmament-for-aid" discussions. Others note that Pyongyang's harsh rhetoric is likely almost solely aimed at impressing its home audience, meant to strengthen its people's devotion to new leader Kim Jong Un by showing he is a powerful military commander. Some also suggest the majority of the North's threats are merely attempts to feel out, or intimidate South Korea's recently elected - and thus untested - president, and for Kim Jong Un - also a fairly new leader - to prove his mettle to an inert national audience.