North Korea says US-led cyber threat warnings are bid to smear its image

SEOUL, Aug 4 (Reuters) – North Korea 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 U.S.-led “joint warning” about North Korean cyber threats as a political accusation and criticized the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), a sanctions-monitoring mechanism established by the United States and partner countries.

“It is illogical that the U.S., which has possessed and operated the biggest cyber force in the world by monopolizing 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 North Korean information technology workers use false identities to obtain remote jobs and generate revenue for Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

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.

North Korea’s spokesperson accused Washington of militarizing 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 North Korean military commentator accused the U.S., South Korea and Japan of turning the U.S.-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.

(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)