Seoul (AFP) – The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signalled little appetite for renewed dialogue with Washington, saying Pyongyang had “no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons”. Kim Yo Jong’s comments appeared to dampen hopes of a meeting this month with US President Donald Trump, who has made several overtures towards her brother, Kim Jong Un.
The remarks came after the FBI attributed North Korea to the theft of more than $6 billion from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, allegations Kim Yo Jong had previously slammed as “a grave political provocation.” “It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue,” she said, according to state news agency KCNA. “The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us.”
Kim Yo Jong accused Washington of pursuing an “invariable hostile policy” towards Pyongyang, citing the Binance allegations, US-South Korean military drills, and American demands for North Korea’s denuclearisation. “In the present reality when new records are being set in the implementation of the US hostile policy toward the DPRK, it is natural that new records should be created in our reflective counteraction,” Kim Yo Jong said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name. She did not specify what countermeasures Pyongyang might take.
– ‘Putting pressure’ – Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said Kim Yo Jong’s comments lowered the “priority of dialogue while putting pressure on the United States.” “The latest statement uses the issue as an opportunity to condemn the entire US policy of pressure against North Korea, marking a shift from defence to offence,” he told AFP. It “reduces the possibility of resolving issues through dialogue and warns that North Korea will respond with ‘a new level of countermeasures’ as the United States increases its pressure,” he added.
The FBI said Saturday that a North Korea-affiliated hacking group called TraderTraitor had been behind the Binance hack. “We do not regard the ‘Binance’ hacking incident as any accidental and sudden case or isolated private scheme, but as an extension of Washington’s invariable hostile policy toward the DPRK,” Kim Yo Jong said Wednesday. “Clearly, the US malicious attempt to get a political and strategic profit by abusing the case is producing a political side effect.”
Experts believe the October 29 hack is the biggest ever cryptocurrency heist. But Trump struck a more cautious note when asked about the Binance hack. “Well, we’re learning about it. I’m not concerned. We’re learning about it. We don’t know if it’s North Korea but if it is we’ll talk to North Korea about it,” he said. Binance released on Tuesday a detailed investigation into the $6 billion hack of its cryptocurrency platform, showing how attackers used fake job interviews and malicious code to steal the funds. The attack took place over about four hours on October 29, with the crypto exchange saying around $2.85 billion of the $6.34 billion stolen had been frozen, preventing the hackers from using the funds or converting them into other currencies.
© 2024 AFP
