North Korea on Friday condemned the United States’ recent indictment of four North Korean nationals on cybercrime charges, calling it “an absurd smear campaign” aimed at tarnishing the state’s image.
A spokesperson for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry told the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the previous day that the incident is an “absurd smear campaign and grave violation of sovereignty aimed at tarnishing the image” of North Korea, the state-run news agency said Friday.
The spokesperson called it a “continuation of the hostile move of the successive U.S. administrations that have talked much about the non-existent ‘cyber threat’ from the DPRK.”
DPRK is the full name of North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The official bashed the indictment enforced by the U.S. Justice Department as “fabricating groundless ‘cyber’ drama” and argued the real source of instability in international cyberspace comes from the United States, not North Korea.
“The real threat of creating international cyberspace instability comes not from the DPRK but from the U.S.,” the spokesperson said.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry also declared that it has “the right to take a proper and proportionate countermeasure to thoroughly protect the security and rights of its citizens from the judicial enforcement for a sinister political purpose, and to call to strict legal account the outsiders who took malicious action.”
On June 30, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia indicted four North Korean nationals for allegedly securing remote employment at blockchain development firms in Atlanta, Georgia, under false identities and siphoning off virtual currency.
Prosecutors charged them with wire fraud and related offenses, placed them on a wanted list, and announced a substantial reward for information leading to their arrest.
According to the indictment, the four individuals traveled to the United Arab Emirates on North Korea-issued travel documents and worked together between 2020 and 2021 to obtain remote jobs at blockchain research and development companies based in Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia.
After gradually gaining their employers’ trust, they secured access to digital asset systems and altered source code, ultimately stealing approximately $915,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation posted wanted notices with photos of the suspects on its website and offered up to $5 million for information that could disrupt North Korean cyber operations,
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump on June 6 signed an executive order designating North Korea as a nation that poses a threat to the United States’ cybersecurity.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]
