North Korea Rejects US Accusation Over Binance Crypto Theft, Issues Stern Warning
North Korea has rejected a United States accusation that Pyongyang was behind the theft of $6.3 billion in digital assets from the cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) blamed North Korea for what has been described as the 'largest ever' digital asset theft from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform.
The rejection was reported by North Korea's state news agency KCNA.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a senior official of the ruling Workers' Party, described the US accusation in a statement as a 'serious political provocation'.
She said that by claiming a Pyongyang-backed hacking group was involved in the thefts, the FBI was trying to portray North Korea in the international arena as a 'cyber criminal state'. In the statement, Kim added: "This US claim is completely unrealistic and ridiculous, and it is nothing new."
She alleged that without any credible evidence, the United States regularly blames North Korea for major international cyber attacks. She also mentioned Pyongyang being implicated in last year's cyber theft from the cryptocurrency exchange platform Bybit.
North Korea has always denied the US allegation of state-sponsored cyber attacks. Washington, on the other hand, claims North Korean hacking groups steal digital assets and cryptocurrency as a main source of funding for the country's various weapons of mass destruction programmes.
Referring to the United States' recent plan to build a strategic cryptocurrency reserve, Kim Yo Jong hinted that Washington itself wants to gain a kind of advantage in the name of recovering the stolen cryptocurrency.
Saying Pyongyang is closely monitoring these US provocations and hostile behaviour, she warned that Washington's aggressive attitude could force North Korea to reconsider its current position on various important issues.
