SEOUL, Nov. 3 (UPI) — Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, rejected U.S. findings linking Pyongyang to the theft of a record $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency, calling the accusation a “grave political provocation” in a statement carried by state media Tuesday.

Kim accused Washington of seeking to brand North Korea a “cyber criminal state” after the FBI attributed the theft from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to North Korean hackers.

“It is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the U.S. misleads the international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds,” she said in the statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

The FBI said Saturday that North Korea was responsible for stealing more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance on or about Oct. 29, attributing the attack to a state-backed hacking unit known as TraderTraitor.

Binance estimated the theft at $6.3 billion and said it would cover all losses using company funds and its user protection fund. The exchange said Saturday that it had replenished 90% of the stolen assets and was purchasing the remaining tokens, pledging that customers would not bear the financial impact.

International authorities say Pyongyang uses cryptocurrency theft and fraudulent overseas information technology work to generate revenue for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

North Korean hackers have been linked to a series of major cryptocurrency thefts, including the roughly $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit in February 2025.

Blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs reported in July that North Korean-linked hackers stole about $643 million in cryptocurrency during the first half of 2026, accounting for roughly two-thirds of all crypto funds stolen worldwide.

A now-disbanded U.N. panel of experts estimated in a 2024 report that illicit cyber activity accounted for about 40% of funding for Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction programs.

Kim dismissed the FBI’s findings on the Binance theft as “absurd rhetoric” and accused Washington of trying to damage North Korea’s international image, pointing to the attribution of last year’s Bybit cryptocurrency theft as another example.

She also suggested, without evidence, that Washington itself could be behind the Binance attack, citing the Trump administration’s plans to use confiscated cryptocurrency assets for a strategic reserve.

“If [the international community] carefully examines who will get the large amount of the so-called stolen cryptocurrency when the latter is retrieved, it may get a clue about who is behind the hacking incident,” Kim said.

“We have issues to reconsider in diverse aspects as regards the very unpleasant U.S. hostile attitude,” she added.

Last week, the United States, South Korea and nine other countries, along with the European Union, backed sanctions targeting North Korea’s overseas workers, malicious cyber activities and military cooperation with Russia. Their joint statement called for full enforcement of U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang.

The U.S. Treasury Department separately sanctioned 10 individuals and one entity Wednesday over North Korean IT worker schemes targeting American businesses. It said operatives use stolen identities and fabricated credentials to secure employment, with the North Korean government taking most of their wages.