North Korea denies involvement in Binance hack and criticizes FBI probe as ‘a trite provocation’

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Tuesday denied its involvement in the recent cryptocurrency heist at Binance, dismissing as “a trite provocation” a U.S. announcement that North Korean hackers were behind the incident.

Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, said Friday that hackers stole more than $6 billion in what appears to be the largest cryptocurrency heist on record. The FBI later said the theft was orchestrated by North Korean hackers, attributing the attack to a hacking group known as TraderTraitor, which was also behind a $1.5 billion hack of the Bybit exchange last year.

On Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the FBI announcement “a trite provocation” and “an absurd rhetoric.”

“This is not the first time that the U.S. has attempted to spread misunderstanding of the DPRK in the international community, blindly linking the DPRK with the ‘cyber crime’ incidents whenever they occur on an international scale,” she said in a statement, using the abbreviation of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“On this occasion, we confirmed Washington’s hostile attitude toward the DPRK once again and are closely monitoring a variety of persistent provocations…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business