Kim Yo Jong denies North Korea role in Binance hack

Kim Yo Jong denied North Korea’s involvement in the Binance theft and called the FBI’s attribution “a trite provocation,” according to the Associated Press report. Her statement followed the FBI’s claim that North Korean hackers carried out the theft, putting Pyongyang’s denial directly against the U.S. agency’s attribution.

The FBI’s October 31 alert says more than $6 billion in virtual assets was stolen from Binance on or about October 29. It identifies the activity as TraderTraitor, a North Korean cyber operation, and lists wallet addresses it says are operated by or closely connected to the group.

What did Kim Yo Jong say about the FBI’s claim?

Kim, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused Washington of repeatedly linking North Korea to major cybercrime, AP reported. She also called the FBI’s statement “absurd rhetoric,” rejecting the allegation that North Korean hackers were behind the Binance incident.

The FBI’s account is an official attribution; the alert does not include its full forensic findings. The agency says it and its partners observed the attackers converting the stolen assets primarily into Ether. That describes the movement of funds after the theft, not evidence in the alert about how the attackers gained access to Binance.

What happens to the stolen assets now?

The FBI says it expects the funds to be moved through decentralized finance and instant-swap services for further laundering. It is urging crypto exchanges, DeFi services, node operators and other virtual-asset businesses to block transactions involving the listed addresses or funds derived from them, according to the FBI’s alert.

The alert gives no deadline for the requested blocking action. The next step is whether services identify and stop transfers connected to those addresses as investigators track the stolen assets.

References

• the Associated Press report — apnews.com
• the FBI’s alert — fbi.gov