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 (August 4), 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 criticised the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), a sanctions-monitoring mechanism established by the United States and partner countries.
The statement appeared to be a response to a joint alert issued on Friday (July 31) 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 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.
