South Korea’s military reported that North Korea launched several missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Wednesday. The launches came a day after Pyongyang rejected claims that it was behind a theft of more than $6bn in crypto assets from the exchange Binance.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were detected from the Sondok area on North Korea’s eastern coast. Authorities in South Korea and the United States are examining the details of the launches. The tests were Pyongyang’s fourth weapons launch in a month.
Pyongyang rejects the FBI’s hacking attribution
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Friday that hackers had stolen more than $6bn, in what appears to be the biggest crypto heist on record. The FBI later said North Korean hackers carried out the theft and linked it to a group known as TraderTraitor. That same group was also blamed for a $1.5bn hack of the Bybit exchange last year.
Also read: Binance resumes withdrawals after recovering 95% of stolen funds
North Korea dismissed the FBI announcement as “a trite provocation”. Its denial came before the new missile launches.
Kim Yo Jong rules out talks with Washington
Early on Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, described the FBI announcement as part of Washington’s long-standing hostile policy toward North Korea. She said Pyongyang would not hold dialogue with the United States until Washington abandoned that policy.
She said there was no need to sit face to face with “such unreliable and hostile persons”. She added that dialogue was part of the choice for peace, but that it was not equal to national interests for the North.
Trump’s planned meeting and the weapons testing drive
US President Donald Trump said in August that he plans to meet Kim Jong Un later this year, aiming to revive the bond he says he built with the North Korean leader during his first term. Trump said it was important to “get along” with Kim, and claimed Pyongyang had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.
Earlier talks between the two leaders in 2019 ended abruptly over disagreements about North Korea’s nuclear programme. In October, the United States, South Korea and Japan again called for the “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean Peninsula. Analysts say North Korea’s accelerated testing this year is likely an effort to strengthen its position in any future diplomacy with Washington.
Recent tests have included a submarine-launched ballistic missile, hypersonic missiles, attack drones and cluster bombs designed to be carried by ballistic missiles. On Tuesday, Pyongyang said it had tested a new cluster warhead for strategic cruise missiles the previous day. It claimed the warhead could destroy an area of 5 to 6 hectares (12 to 15 acres) with “high-density power”.
The latest launches followed a North Korean state media report that Kim had visited a naval shipyard where a destroyer is being built, and had stressed the importance of a powerful navy.
