North Korea has denied involvement in the record $6.3bn (£4.7bn) hack of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, calling US allegations "absurd rhetoric" and a "sinister attempt" to damage the country's image.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service and cyber analysts attribute the attack - described as the largest in history - to North Korea's state-backed hacking group TraderTraitor. The FBI has called on industry partners to help block transactions involving cryptocurrency accounts linked to the group.
Kim Yo-jong, a top Democratic People's Republic of Korea official and the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Tuesday that the accusations are part of a recurring pattern of US provocations. "The US has made a trite provocation of linking it with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea again," Kim said in a statement. "It is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the US misleads the international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds."
Pyongyang has consistently denied involvement in major cyber attacks attributed to the state. The US government's attribution of the Binance hack to North Korea represents another escalation in tensions between the two nations, though the Democratic People's Republic of Korea rejects the claims as politically motivated.
