North Korea on Thursday condemned the Trump administration’s new sanctions targeting cybercrimes linked to its nuclear weapons program, accusing Washington of “wicked” hostility and promising to take “proper measures” in response.
According to The Associated Press, the rebuke came after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned eight individuals and two companies, including North Korean bankers, for allegedly laundering money from cybercrime operations.
The Treasury said state-sponsored hackers from North Korea have stolen more than $3 billion in digital assets over the past three years, using the funds to help finance its nuclear program.
According to the Treasury, North Korea depends on a global network of financial institutions and shell companies in countries including China and Russia to disguise funds obtained through IT fraud, cryptocurrency theft, and sanctions evasion.
The sanctions were announced as President Donald Trump continued to signal interest in restarting talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Their previous negotiations broke down in 2019 over disagreements about lifting U.S.-led sanctions in exchange for steps toward nuclear disarmament.
“Now that the present U.S. administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it with patience for any length of time,” North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Un Chol said, referring to the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim said U.S. sanctions and pressure will not alter the “present strategic situation” or change the North’s “thinking and viewpoint.”
Kim Jong Un has avoided talks with Washington and Seoul since his split with Trump, shifting his diplomatic focus to Moscow.
He has provided Russia with troops and military equipment to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and has pursued a more aggressive foreign policy aligning North Korea against the U.S.-led West.
In a recent speech, Kim urged the U.S. to drop its demand that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons before resuming diplomacy. He ignored Trump’s offer to meet while the president was in South Korea last week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
