SEOUL – North Korea on Tuesday rejected a recent joint alert issued by South Korea, the United States, Japan and others about its information technology (IT) workers and cyberactivity as “false information” driven by political motives.
South Korea, the U.S., Japan and eight other countries issued the alert last week, accusing North Korean IT workers of using fake credentials to secure freelance and remote corporate jobs abroad.
“The U.S. and its followers’ ‘joint warning’ about the ‘cyber threat’ by the DPRK is nothing but a stereotyped political accusation with a sinister purpose to tarnish the image of our state,” North Korea’s foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
The statement warned that North Korea relies on these skilled IT workers to generate hard currency for its weapons programs and advised to strengthen countermeasures, such as enhancing identity verification procedures.
The ministry spokesperson turned the accusation back on Washington, arguing that the U.S. bears responsibility for militarizing cyberspace through the expansion of its cyberwarfare capabilities and joint cyberexercises with its allies.
“It is illogical that the U.S., which has possessed and operated the biggest cyber force in the world by monopolizing the core resources of cyber space, is talking about ‘cyber threat’ from other countries,” the spokesperson said, adding, “it is a mere excuse for justifying its illegal policy on placing pressure on sovereign states.”
“The U.S. and other hostile forces’ moves to establish hegemony in cyber space, a treasure common to mankind, with the ‘theory of cyber threat’ fabricated with misinformation can never be tolerated.”
The spokesperson vowed to resist international pressure, saying North Korea “will never allow any politically- and ideologically-motivated attempt … to use the cyber issue as the means of criticism and pressure,” and pledged to “defend the security and development interests of the state in all domains.”
