North Korea calls $6bn Binance theft claim a 'political provocation' as it test-fires cruise missiles

Pyongyang has rejected the FBI's allegation that North Korea was behind the theft of $6 billion (5.3 billion euros) from cryptocurrency platform Binance. At the same time, the country test-fired strategic cruise missiles in a new display of its weapons capabilities.

The missile launch came on the heels of a public rebuttal from Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, who slammed the FBI's allegations as a "grave political provocation".

On Saturday, the FBI said a North Korea-affiliated hacking group called TraderTraitor had been behind the hack.

Experts see the incident as potentially the largest cryptocurrency theft in history. Michael Bosack, founding director of the Parley Policy Institute and a former UN Command official, told AFP the haul equalled "nearly a quarter of the DPRK's estimated annual GDP".

Kim Yo-jong said the FBI's claim was "absurd rhetoric and nothing new", given prior US allegations that Pyongyang was behind last year's major hack of Bybit.

Bosack said North Korea likely felt compelled to respond because of the level of international attention on the incident. The denial, he added, was aimed at maintaining channels through which North Korea could continue laundering and using the cryptocurrency.

The hack has prompted South Korea to call for increased protections for its digital infrastructure. President Lee Jae-myung said existing security systems centred on inspections and responses after incidents have revealed clear limitations as hacking techniques become more intelligent with AI, and called for a comprehensive prevention system.

A 2024 United Nations report said proceeds from North Korean cyberattacks had reportedly helped to fund the country's development of weapons of mass destruction.

Monday's launch involved strategic cruise missiles fitted with a new cluster-munition warhead, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday. KCNA said the middle-sized dispersal warhead is capable of turning a target area of 5 to 6 hectares into ashes and that the test perfected the capability for a vertical strike by improving the missile's terminal manoeuvrability.

A North Korean official was quoted as saying the test was conducted because the armed forces should defend the country's security and deter all threats. Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, told AFP North Korea is demonstrating it can disable key South Korean and US military infrastructure, including airfield runways, radar bases and air defence batteries, with a single cruise missile.

The nuclear-armed North has recently trialled a range of weaponry including attack drones, a new precision-guided torpedo system and an intermediate-range hypersonic missile. Unlike ballistic missile launches, North Korean cruise missile tests are not prohibited by UN Security Council sanctions.

South Korea's military did not announce Monday's cruise missile launch, as it also had not done with Sunday's test. Asked on Monday, Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Jang Do-young said South Korea and the United States were closely coordinating a detailed analysis of its characteristics, and that the military does not announce all projectiles launched by North Korea, citing operational security.