SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched several missiles into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, hours after Pyongyang said it saw no need to resume diplomacy with Washington to protest accusations that North Korean hackers were behind the latest cryptocurrency. heist at Binance.
Observers say North Korea was likely pressuring the United States to drop what it calls its hostility toward the North and offer concessions if it wants to restore ties between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they detected the launch of several missiles fired toward North Korea’s eastern waters. He said South Korean and U.S. authorities were analyzing details of the launches. He said South Korea remained ready to repel any potential provocations from North Korea.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kim’s sister, senior official Kim Yo Jong, again disputed an FBI announcement that North Korean hackers were responsible for the Binance hack, calling it “an extension of Washington’s unwavering hostile policy toward” Pyongyang.
“We clearly believe that we do not need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile people,” she said. “The choice of peace of course requires dialogue, but for us, that is certainly not synonymous with national interests.”
In a statement released Tuesday, she called the FBI’s announcement “a banal provocation.”
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Friday that hackers stole more than $6 billion in what appears to be the largest cryptocurrency heist on record. The FBI later said the theft was orchestrated by North Korean hackers, attributing the attack to a hacker group known as TraderTraitor, which was also behind the attack. $1.5 billion hack of Bybit exchange last year.
In recent months, North Korea has accelerated its weapons testing with the probable aim of increasing its influence in possible diplomacy with the United States after Asset expressed his desire to restore diplomacy with Kim Jong Un. News of the latest launches came as votes were being counted in the US midterm elections.
Also on Wednesday, North Korea’s KCNA news agency published a photo showing parts of a warship under construction that would likely be its largest naval vessel. KCNA said Kim Jong Un expressed satisfaction this week during a visit to the Nampho shipyard over the warship, which he said “is incomparably huge” at 5,000 tons. destroyers. Kim previously said North Korea planned to build a 10,000-ton strategic guided-missile cruiser.
Tensions between the two Koreas have also increased since mine explosions at their border in September, three South Korean soldiers were injured. Seoul has accused North Korea of burying the mines south of the border and demanded an apology. Pyongyang has denied any responsibility For the explosions and warned of retaliation if provoked.
North Korea then threatened to resume propaganda broadcasts by loudspeakers and place new weapons systems along the border.
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