North Korea rejects accusations of stealing $2 billion from crypto exchanges and banks

A spokesman for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's National Coordination Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism officially denied reports that North Korean hackers may be responsible for stealing $2 billion from cryptocurrency exchanges and banks on Sunday.

"The U.S. and other hostile forces are spreading rumors that we have illegally seized $2 billion to develop weapons of mass destruction programs using cyberattacks," the Korean Central News Agency quoted him as saying.

The agency claims that the UN Security Council in its report deliberately distorts the facts and makes groundless accusations, resorting to manipulative practices used in Hitler's Germany.

"We warn that we will not tolerate gross actions aimed at denigrating the dignity of our state and will keep records of such actions," the publication says.

Excerpts from a confidential UN report were published in early August. It shows that Pyongyang used "large-scale and constantly improving" cyberattacks to steal funds from the cryptocurrency exchanges and banks, which were then used to create weapons of mass destruction.

"Cyber-active individuals from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, many of whom have been at the direct disposal of the Central Intelligence Agency, are raising money for weapons of mass destruction programmes. The total amount they have appropriated to date is estimated at $2 billion," the report writes.