Pyongyang pushes back against US accusations over Binance hack

Kim says North Korea has 'no need' to sit with 'hostile' Americans

Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department [Yonhap]
Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department [Yonhap]

North Korea pushed back against US accusations linking it to the Binance hack while explicitly leaving open the possibility of dialogue.

According to KCNA on Wednesday, Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department, issued a statement saying that while dialogue is "clearly" among the options for preserving peace, it is "not necessarily" synonymous with North Korea's national interests.

Kim said the "cryptocurrency hacking incident attributed to Korea" was "just the tip of the iceberg revealing the true nature of the United States' hostile policy toward Korea."

Kim went on to say that Washington had "once again raised its voice over someone's 'denuclearization'" at recent trilateral diplomatic meetings with Japan and South Korea, and accused the US of "setting new daily records on all hostile fronts — denuclearization, human rights, cyber, sanctions and military — through the continued enforcement of joint military CPX under various pretexts, the imposition of unilateral and multilateral sanctions, and the release of so-called 'trafficking in persons reports.'"

Kim also said it was "clear that the United States' malicious scheme to exploit this incident for some kind of political gain is producing political side effects."

Kim then laid out Pyongyang's position in stark terms: "It is our clear stance that we have no need to sit across from untrustworthy and hostile people who talk about dialogue but refuse to abandon their confrontational policy, who speak of peace but prefer war exercises and military alliance-building above all else, and who preach about improving relations but avoid respecting the sovereignty and rights of the other party."

Even so, Kim left the door open, saying that as the US "sets new records in implementing its hostile policy" toward North Korea, Pyongyang's "reflexive responses should also create new records" — before adding that "dialogue is clearly among the options for preserving peace."


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