Accused by the FBI of having stolen $6 billion in cryptocurrencies from Binance, North Korea denies and criticizes a “serious political provocation”
Leader Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, denounced the FBI's "absurd rhetoric" which accuses North Korea of being behind a record hack against the Binance platform.
North Korea on Tuesday denounced FBI accusations that Pyongyang was behind the record $6.3 billion hack against cryptocurrency exchange Binance, with leader Kim Jong Un's sister calling them a "serious political provocation." Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA that the FBI's claims were "absurd rhetoric that brings nothing new," given previous U.S. accusations that North Korea was already responsible for the ByBit hack in February 2025. "It is a serious political provocation against the DPRK for the United States to mislead international public opinion, as if all cybercrimes committed in different parts of the world were our doing," Kim said, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
North Korean hackers identified by the FBI The American federal police (FBI) formally accused North Korea on Saturday of the record theft of 6.3 billion dollars thanks to the hacking of Binance, the first cryptocurrency exchange platform in the world. The FBI says it has identified the North Korean hacker group known as TraderTraitor behind the theft. The FBI attributed to them the theft of $1.5 billion suffered in February 2025 by the Bybit platform, so far the largest in the sector.
Ms. Kim denounced "a sinister attempt to damage the international image of the DPRK, to undermine its national dignity and prestige, and a further serious violation of (its) sovereignty." "It is the consistent policy of the DPRK government to resolutely oppose any malicious acts in cyberspace," she said. World number one in digital currency trading volume, Binance claims 335 million users.
The announcement of this hack caused the price of cryptocurrencies to fall sharply on Friday. The TraderTraitor group is considered part of the Lazarus group, itself affiliated with North Korean intelligence services. Lazarus became known in 2014 when he was accused of hacking Sony Pictures Entertainment studios in retaliation for the satirical film about North Korea "The Interview That Kills!
". According to a 2020 US Army report, North Korea's cyberwarfare unit, "Bureau 121", has 6,000 employees who also operate from abroad, including Belarus, China, India, Malaysia and Russia.
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- BFM Business3 Nov, 06:33
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