The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has accused the United States and its allies of using unfounded accusations about its cyber activities to tarnish its image and justify pressure on sovereign states, ⁠state media KCNA reported on Tuesday, citing a foreign ministry spokesperson.

The spokesperson described a recent US-led "joint warning" about cyber threats from the DPRK as a political accusation and criticised the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), a sanctions-monitoring mechanism established by the United States and partner countries.

"It is illogical that the US, which has possessed and operated the biggest cyber force in the world by monopolising the core resources of cyber space, is talking about 'cyber threat' from other countries," the spokesperson said, according to KCNA.

The statement appeared to be a response to a joint alert issued on Friday by the United States, South Korea, Japan and eight other countries warning that information technology workers from the DPRK use false identities to obtain remote jobs and generate revenue for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

The alert said such workers, using increasingly sophisticated tools like AI to conceal their activities, could pose insider threats to companies and were involved in data theft, cryptocurrency theft and the theft of sensitive information.

A DPRK spokesperson accused Washington of militarising cyberspace through cyber warfare capabilities and joint cyber exercises with allies, and said Pyongyang would not tolerate what it called politically motivated attempts to use cyber issues as a means of pressure on other countries.

In a separate editorial carried by KCNA on Tuesday, a DPRK military commentator accused the US, South Korea and Japan of turning the US-led RIMPAC naval exercise into a rehearsal for aggression and said their growing military cooperation was creating a new security crisis in the Asia-Pacific region. (Reuters)



Edited by Cecil Wong