Kim Yo Jong posts North Korea denies masterminding $6.3 billion Binance hack

North Korea has denied accusations that it was behind the record-breaking $6.3 billion (42 billion yuan; NT$206 billion NT$) hack of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, calling the accusations "absurd rumors."

Kim Yo-jong, general affairs minister of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and sister of supreme leader Kim Jong-un, said on Tuesday (November 3) that these accusations were another "bad attempt" by the United States to damage North Korea's international image.

The FBI, Secret Service and cybersecurity analysts said North Korea was behind what was described as the largest hacking attack in history.

Pyongyang has also been accused of being involved in a number of major cyber attacks, but has always denied the accusations.

Blockchain analysts and the FBI said the attack was led by the state-backed hacker group "Trader Traitor".

The FBI is calling on industry partners to help stop transactions involving cryptocurrency accounts linked to the organization.

Kim Yo Jong said in a statement that the United States "has once again launched its usual provocations and linked them to North Korea."

She said: "The United States has misled international public opinion and created the false impression that cyber fraud occurring around the world is the work of North Korea. It is clearly a serious political provocation against North Korea."

The incident is the latest hacking attack allegedly linked to North Korea. North Korea has been accused of relying on cybercrime to fund its economy.

The "TraderTraitor" organization is also known as the "Lazarus Group" (Lazarus Group). The organization was accused of planning the then-record $1.5 billion hacker attack on the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit in 2025.

Research groups including Singapore's S Rajaratnam School of International Studies say Pyongyang has systematically built up its cyber operations capabilities, recruiting promising students from universities and sending them to hacking units overseen by North Korea's intelligence agencies.

North Korea has always denied the claims.

Kim Yo Jong said: "It is the consistent policy stance of the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to resolutely oppose all malicious acts in cyberspace, which is the common wealth of mankind."

The BBC has contacted Coinbase for comment. Since the hack, the cryptocurrency giant’s public statements have largely focused on the technical nature of the intrusion and its response to protect users.

The company said a preliminary investigation revealed that an engineer's laptop was compromised, allowing the attackers to make unauthorized withdrawals.

Trading in Binance’s main cryptocurrency has resumed after the exchange worked with the issuer to freeze assets affected by the hack.

Binance said on Sunday (1st) that its customers had withdrawn more than $3.6 billion in assets from the exchange after suspending all trading and reopening following the hack.