Kim Yo-jong pushes back on Binance hack claims, leaves door open to talks

North Korea pushed back against US accusations that it was behind the Binance hack, while stopping short of closing the door on dialogue with Washington.

Korean Workers' Party General Affairs Department Director Kim Yo-jong said in a statement released Wednesday through KCNA that the so-called "cryptocurrency hacking incident by North Korea" was "just the tip of the iceberg revealing the true nature of the US hostile policy toward" the country.

Kim said the United States had "once again raised its voice about someone's 'denuclearization'" at a recent trilateral diplomacy session with Japan and South Korea, and accused Washington of "setting new daily records on all hostile fronts targeting us — denuclearization, human rights, cyber, sanctions and military — through the continued staging of joint military exercises under various pretexts, the imposition of unilateral and multilateral sanctions, and the release of so-called 'trafficking in persons reports.'"

Kim added that it was North Korea's "clear position that there is no need to sit down with untrustworthy and hostile people who talk about dialogue but refuse to abandon their confrontational policy, who speak of peace but prefer war exercises and military alliance-building above all else, and who preach about improving relations but avoid respecting the sovereignty and rights of the other party."

However, Kim left open the possibility of US-North Korea talks, saying that "dialogue is certainly included among the options for safeguarding peace, but this does not necessarily equate to our national interest."

Wednesday's statement was Kim's second under her name on the Binance issue, following one on Monday. Kim oversees North Korea's external relations, and her explicit mention of "dialogue" signals that Pyongyang is not entirely ruling out the prospect of US-North Korea talks.

Amid this, KCNA reported Wednesday that Kim Jong-un inspected the Nampho Shipyard on Monday.

During the visit, Kim said the need to "completely overhaul the navy's combat capabilities" stems from "the new geopolitical situation that has emerged and the circumstances that compel us to suppress by force the nuclear blackmail and threats of regional adversaries that are in fact posing a grave impact on national security."

The Nampho Shipyard is located at Nampho port, North Korea's largest trade port and a key military hub. North Korea is believed to be constructing a 10,000-ton cruiser there, along with a follow-on vessel to its new 5,000-ton destroyer.

Meanwhile, a Workers' Party delegation led by Kim Song-nam, the party's secretary for international affairs, departed Tuesday for an official visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. The visit is expected to continue high-level exchanges between the two countries following Kim Jong-un's surprise trip to China on Oct. 24.