Seoul, Nov 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) North Korea on Tuesday flatly dismissed the outcome of a US investigation that blamed Pyongyang for a massive cryptocurrency theft from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, calling it a "grave political provocation" against the North.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made the remarks, referring to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) announcement Saturday that the regime is responsible for the theft of more than US$6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance.
The FBI linked the theft to a North Korean hacking group it calls TraderTraitor, a name previously tied to other cryptocurrency heists.
"The FBI is trying to brand the DPRK as a 'cyber criminal state', claiming that it obtained information that a hacking organisation 'supported' by the DPRK was involved in the incident," Kim said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"It is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the US misleads the international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds."
North Korea has been blamed for cyber thefts before and has denied any involvement. It is rare for Kim to issue a statement on a hacking incident.
Kim called Washington's accusation a "sinister" attempt to damage the international image of North Korea and undermine its dignity and national prestige, as well as another grave violation of the sovereignty of the North in cyberspace.
Turning the blame back on Washington, she said, "As soon as the present US administration took office last year, it announced that it would confiscate illegally stolen cryptocurrency assets and use them as a state's strategic reserve."
Anyone who looks at who will end up with "the so-called stolen cryptocurrency" once it is retrieved, she said, "may get a clue about who is behind the hacking incident."
She said North Korea is "closely monitoring" a variety of what she called Washington's persistent provocations against it.
"We have issues to reconsider in diverse aspects as regards the very unpleasant US hostile attitude," Kim warned.
A senior official at South Korea's unification ministry noted it was Kim's first statement on accusations of North Korea's cyber hacking.
"The North appears to be treating this matter seriously, as the international fallout from the Binance hacking incident grows, and has elevated its response", by speaking through Kim, the official said.
In similar cases in the past, the North usually responded with a statement issued by its foreign ministry.
Pyongyang appears to care about its international image as it seeks to be portrayed as a "normal state," the official added.
The statement is regarded as an attempt to keep the North's cyber activities from becoming an international issue and to pressure the US to drop what Pyongyang calls a hostile policy toward it.
The ministry finds it hard to "predict" what effects the hacking incident would have on a potential summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. North Korea has remained unresponsive to Trump's repeated overtures to resume summit diplomacy.
Source: IANS
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