Kim Yo-jong Denounces U.S. After North Korea Named in Binance Hack
Kim Yo-jong, department director of the Workers' Party of Korea, pushed back against the United States after North Korea was identified as being behind the hack of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. In remarks carried by the Korean Central News Agency on the 2nd and 3rd, Kim claimed, "It is clearly a grave political provocation against us for the United States to mislead international public opinion as if all cyber fraud incidents occurring around the world were our doing." Her comments came after U.S. investigative authorities (FBI) named the North Korean hacking group 'TraderTraitor' as being behind the $6.3 billion (roughly 8 trillion won) Binance hack. Cryptocurrency is a digital currency traded on the internet.
In her statement, Kim said, "Recently, in connection with a major incident in which billions of dollars in cryptocurrency were stolen from 'Binance,' the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, the United States has once again carried out its customary provocation of linking the incident to us." She went on to denounce it as "a sinister attempt to damage the international image of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and denigrate our dignity and national prestige," calling it "yet another grave act infringing upon the sovereignty of the anti-DPRK state that has extended into a new domain."
Kim emphasized, "We are paying close attention to the United States' continued and varied provocations against our state." She added, "It is the consistent policy stance of the government of the DPRK to resolutely oppose all malicious acts in cyberspace, a common asset of humanity, and to thoroughly reject any arbitrary attempts to politicize cyber issues and use them as a means of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries." She also pointed out, "The international community would do well to recall once again that last year, as soon as the current U.S. administration took office, it announced it would confiscate illegally stolen cryptocurrency assets to build up the nation's strategic reserve funds."
Kim said the incident had once again confirmed Washington's hostile policy toward Pyongyang. Her remarks are the first official backlash following the U.S. designation of North Korea for the hack, drawing attention to their potential impact on inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea relations.
