Kim Yo Jong calls FBI's Binance hack accusation a 'trite provocation'

North Korea has denied stealing about $6.3bn from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, with Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, dismissing the FBI's accusation as "a trite provocation".

In a statement carried by the state news agency KCNA, Kim said the United States had repeatedly tried to blame North Korea for cybercrime. "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.

She called the FBI's claim "absurd rhetoric and nothing new", and accused Washington of trying to brand North Korea a "cyber criminal state". DPRK is the abbreviation of the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The FBI's case

The FBI said on Saturday that the theft, the largest crypto heist on record, was carried out by TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group. It blamed the same group for the theft of $1.5bn from the exchange Bybit in February 2025.

Investigators stand by the attribution

Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic rejected Kim's denial, saying its own investigation supported the FBI's conclusion. Other firms, including TRM Labs and Chainalysis, had reached the same view.

Elliptic said the hackers were laundering the stolen funds more slowly than after the Bybit hack, when North Korean hackers moved all the stolen ether within ten days.

A political twist

The FBI statement put the White House in an awkward position. President Donald Trump has made repeated overtures to North Korea and said he is open to meeting Kim Jong Un, and after the FBI's statement he cast doubt on North Korea's involvement, according to reports.

Why it matters

United Nations experts have said North Korea uses stolen cryptocurrency to fund its nuclear weapons and missile programmes, making crypto theft a security issue, not just a financial one. Binance has said it has covered most of its customers' losses from its own funds, and about $3bn of the stolen assets have been frozen.