Japan strongly condemns a cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment that the United States has blamed on North Korea, and is maintaining close contact with Washington on the matter, a Japanese foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

But Japan sees no direct impact on its talks with North Korea over the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang's agents decades ago, the spokeswoman added.

"Japan recognizes that the cyberattack is a serious issue that affects national security and we strongly condemn the hacking," the spokeswoman told Reuters by telephone.

"We do not think this would give any direct impact to Japan-North Korea consultations and we continue to demand that North Korea conduct its research (on the abductees) rapidly and demand a quick report to Japan of the results of the investigation."