Pyongyang slams US indictment of 4 N. Koreans in wire fraud as 'absurd smear campaign'
Four North Korean nationals wanted by the FBI for wire fraud and other charges are seen in a wanted poster in this image captured from the FBI's website on Wednesday. Yonhap
North Korea on Friday denounced the United States' recent indictment of four North Korean nationals on charges of wire fraud and money laundering as "an absurd smear campaign."
Late last month, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia charged four North Koreans in connection with a wire fraud scheme through which they allegedly stole and laundered over $900,000 in virtual currency. They were also placed on a wanted list.
"The recent incident is an absurd smear campaign and grave violation of sovereignty aimed at tarnishing the image of our state," the Korean Central News Agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying, accusing the U.S. of continuing a "hostile move" against a non-existent "cyber threat" from Pyongyang.
Working as a team in the United Arab Emirates, they allegedly posed as remote IT workers using false identities to gain employment at a blockchain development company in Atlanta, Georgia, and a Serbian virtual token firm between late 2020 and early 2021.
After earning their employers' trust, they gained access to digital assets and stole cryptocurrency worth $915,000, transferring them to separate accounts, according to the charges.
The North Korean spokesperson expressed "serious concern" and called the indictment a "provocation" that encroaches upon the rights and interests of North Korean citizens by "fabricating the groundless cyber drama."
"The real threat of creating international cyberspace instability comes not from the DPRK but from the U.S.," the spokesperson noted, accusing Washington of turning cyberspace into "a scene of battle and abusing the cyber issue as a political weapon."
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of the country.
"We will never tolerate any hostile act of the U.S. to encroach upon our state's sovereignty through groundless slander and illegal application of judicial means," the official said, warning that his country has the right to take a proper and proportionate countermeasure to thoroughly protect the security and rights of its citizens.