By Tass
SEOUL, July 4. /TASS/. A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the US is creating cyber threats against other sovereign states, including Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency reported.
At the end of June, US authorities accused four North Korean citizens of stealing cryptocurrency and placed them on the wanted list. The Foreign Ministry called these accusations another manifestation of Washington’s hostility, “groundless slander based on a baseless version of a cyber threat,” and an attempt to distort the country’s image. Pyongyang expressed concern about the “provocation” by US law enforcement agencies, which “violate the rights and interests of North Korean citizens.”
“The real threat to international cybersecurity is not us, but the US,” a spokesperson said. “The US, which has long turned cyberspace into a battlefield, continuously poses a threat to the cybersecurity of sovereign states, including our country. It also abuses cybersecurity issues as a political tool to discredit other countries,” the diplomat noted. The North Korean authorities reserve the right to “take appropriate, proportional countermeasures to consistently protect the security and rights” of their citizens.
QUAD, denuclearization
In another report, the Korean Central News Agency quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying that the country condemns the US for attempting to discuss Pyongyang’s denuclearization at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD, comprising Australia, India, the US, and Japan). In Pyongyang, discussing renunciation of nuclear weapons is considered a “political provocation” and interference in internal affairs. “North Korea’s nuclear status, enshrined in the state’s supreme law and proven in practice, cannot be altered,” the diplomat said.
North Korea recalled that the US is modernizing its own nuclear weapons and has “illegally used armed forces,” causing serious damage to global peace. “The US’ attempts to deny North Korea’s current status not only seriously violate its sovereignty, but also dangerously escalate the situation, create instability in the region, and escalate tensions,” Pyongyang concluded.