North Korea says US allegations linking it to Binance heist are ‘absurd rhetoric’, KCNA says

[SEOUL] North Korea on Tuesday dismissed as “absurd rhetoric” US allegations that it was behind a US$6 billion cryptocurrency heist on the Binance platform, saying they proved Washington remained hostile towards it, state news agency KCNA said.

The denial issued by Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, comes as Pyongyang has stayed silent on US President Donald Trump’s overtures to resume summit diplomacy. Kim Yo Jong warned that North Korea had “issues to reconsider” over what it calls US hostility.

The FBI said at the weekend that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than US$6 billion in virtual assets from Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, in what could be the largest-ever financial heist.

“The FBI is trying to brand the DPRK as a ‘cyber criminal state,’ claiming that it obtained information that a hacking organization ‘supported’ by the DPRK was involved in the incident,” KCNA quoted Kim Yo Jong, a ruling party official, as saying. DPRK is a short form for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“But the US assertion is absurd rhetoric and nothing new,” Kim said.

“It is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the US misleads international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds.”

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Cybersecurity experts say North Korean hackers are among the world’s most prolific crypto thieves and the proceeds help fund the country’s weapons programmes. North Korea denies all allegations of its links to cryptocurrency theft and other cybercrimes.

North Korea is one of the world’s most impoverished countries but has poured resources secured through illicit means and activities banned under UN Security Council resolutions into its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Kim Yo Jong said North Korea would “reconsider” unspecified issues in light of the “very unpleasant US hostile attitude”. While she did not elaborate, North Korea has not publicly responded to Trump’s offers to resume summit diplomacy, and experts have said Pyongyang may be weighing its options.

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The FBI said members of a North Korean state-sponsored unit known as TraderTraitor were responsible for the Binance attack. Law enforcement had observed them converting the stolen assets to the cryptocurrency Ethereum, and expected them to launder the assets further.

Binance has said it has covered most of the assets stolen from the platform by using company money. REUTERS