Trump says he'll talk directly to North Korea if Pyongyang is behind Binance hack

US President Donald Trump said he would engage directly with North Korea if Pyongyang is confirmed to be behind the hack of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The remarks came as the FBI identified North Korea-linked hacking group TraderTraitor as the perpetrator. On the same day, Trump also renewed talk of military action against Iran, saying there are still "one or two" targets left to deal with.

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Saturday (local time), Trump said he was "looking into" the alleged North Korean connection to the Binance hack. "I don't know if it's North Korea, but if it is, we'll discuss it with North Korea," Trump said. The comments came even after US authorities had already identified North Korea as the likely culprit, with Trump maintaining that the matter remains under investigation.

The FBI earlier said it had determined that the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance was the work of TraderTraitor, a hacking group linked to North Korea. The bureau said the stolen assets were being converted primarily into Ethereum and asked exchanges and blockchain firms to block transactions involving the associated wallet addresses.

Binance said it had recovered 90 percent of the stolen assets and announced plans to resume withdrawals. The FBI, however, warned that the hackers could launder the remaining assets through multiple wallets and decentralized finance, or DeFi, services.

Trump continued to press Iran with military threats. Claiming the United States had already neutralized a significant portion of Iran's military capabilities, Trump said there are "one or two places we still have to take care of, but we can do it in 10 minutes." Trump also referenced what is believed to be Iran's underground nuclear facility at Pickaxe Mountain, saying it could be dealt with "very quickly."

Trump added that negotiations with Iran through intermediary countries were "going well," though he described Iran as "not very trustworthy" and said he would wait to see whether a deal materializes. The remarks kept open the possibility of a diplomatic resolution while simultaneously raising pressure with talk of military action.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei was reported to have ordered the military that day to respond forcefully to any level of threat. With US midterm elections approaching, Trump's dual posture — offering dialogue on the North Korean hacking issue while raising the prospect of force against Iran — has drawn wide attention to how both situations will unfold.