North Korea calls U.S. claims it was behind Binance hack ‘a grave political provocation’

North Korea on Tuesday criticized claims by the FBI that it was behind the $6 billion cryptocurrency theft from the Binance platform, calling the allegations “a grave political provocation,” throwing cold water on talk of a possible meeting between the two countries’ leaders.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, called the claims “absurd rhetoric and nothing new,” according to the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The Binance heist is the largest-ever cybertheft.

“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, using the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The FBI said Saturday that the North Korea-affiliated TraderTraitor hacking group had been behind the Binance theft — the same group blamed for a $1.5 billion Bybit platform cryptocurrency theft in February last year.

Kim called the FBI’s claims “a sinister attempt to damage the international image” of her country in a “new sphere.”

Pyongyang may also be linked to the cyberattack on GMO Internet Group. Although company officials on Monday refused to touch on who was believed responsible for the attack, media reports have said that a North Korean-linked group was likely the culprit.

North Korea is widely believed to maintain an army of thousands of highly skilled hackers, using the proceeds of their thefts to help build up its nuclear weapons and missile programs. But experts say the proliferation of artificial intelligence has now provided the country with a powerful new tool to help fund its military expansion.

Kim’s remarks come as U.S. President Donald Trump has floated the idea of meeting with her brother, possibly around the time of the Nov. 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China.

Trump has repeatedly teased the possibility, though Pyongyang has not publicly responded to his entreaties. 

In her statement, Kim said that the Binance accusation had “confirmed Washington’s hostile attitude toward the DPRK once again.”

“We have issues to reconsider in diverse aspects as regards the very unpleasant U.S. hostile attitude,” she added cryptically.

Leader Kim Jong Un has ramped up weapons tests in the runup to that summit, including one of a “dispersal warhead of a strategic cruise missile” that it also announced Tuesday. That announcement came just days after it said it had fired off cluster-bomb warheads for its tactical ballistic missiles.

Observers say Kim may be trying to build up leverage ahead of any summit by touting his country’s defense advances.