North Korea said on November 4 that dialogue with the United States remains an option for peace but suggested it must serve its national interests. Kim Yo-jong, sister of leader Kim Jong-un, made the remarks through KCNA and criticized U.S. allegations that the North was behind a theft of more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance.
North Korea's public framing of dialogue as conditional, alongside its rejection of the FBI's attribution, leaves Pyongyang's diplomatic stance unchanged and its alleged role in the Binance theft unresolved. The theft figure of more than $6 billion is a direct operational burden for the exchange and its users.
North Korea said on November 4 that dialogue with the United States remains an option for peace but suggested it must serve the country's national interests, according to a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claimed Washington's continued "hostile signal" was compelling the North to reconsider the "true nature" of the U.S.
"The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us," Kim said, according to KCNA.
The remarks followed the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's announcement on a Saturday that North Korea was behind the theft of more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Kim had called the attribution a "grave political provocation" in a rare statement carried by KCNA the previous day.
Kim also pointed to a recent trilateral meeting of top diplomats from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, where they reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearization of North Korea, and various joint military drills. She did not announce any specific change in North Korea's policy or say what dialogue would require.
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