N.Korea launches missiles toward sea as Pyongyang protests against US claims on Binance hack

SEOUL, South Korea, Nov 4, (AP): North Korea launched multiple missiles toward the sea on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, hours after Pyongyang said it saw no need to resume diplomacy with Washington in protest of accusations that North Korean hackers were behind the recent cryptocurrency heist at Binance.

Observers say North Korea was likely pressuring the US to drop what it calls its hostility against the North and offer concessions if it wants to restore ties between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launches of several missiles fired toward North Korea's eastern waters. It said South Korean and US authorities were analyzing details of the launches. It said South Korea maintains a readiness to repel any potential provocations by North Korea.

Earlier Wednesday, Kim’s sister, senior official Kim Yo Jong, again disputed an FBI announcement that North Korean hackers were responsible for the hack at Binance, calling it "an extension of Washington’s invariable hostile policy toward” Pyongyang. "It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons,” she said.

"The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us.” In a Tuesday statement, she described the FBI announcement as "a trite provocation.” Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, said Friday that hackers stole more than $6 billion in what appears to be the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.

The FBI later said the theft was orchestrated by North Korean hackers, attributing the attack to a hacking group known as TraderTraitor, which was also behind a $1.5 billion hack of the Bybit exchange last year.

In recent months, North Korea has accelerated its weapons tests in a likely bid to increase its leverage in potential diplomacy with the US after Trump expressed his eagerness to restore diplomacy with Kim Jong Un.

The news of the latest launches came amid vote counting in the US midterm elections. Also Wednesday, North Korea’s state KCNA news agency released a photo showing parts of a warship under construction that would likely be its biggest naval vessel. KCNA said Kim Jong Un expressed satisfaction this week during a visit to the Nampho Shipyard over the warship that it said "is incomparably huge” relative to its 5,000-ton destroyers.

Kim previously said North Korea planned to build a 10,000-ton strategic guided missile cruiser. Tensions between the two Koreas have also deepened since mine blasts at their border in September wounded three South Korean soldiers.

Seoul accused North Korea of burying the mines south of the border and demanded an apology. Pyongyang has denied responsibility for the explosions and warned of retaliation if provoked. North Korea later threatened to resume propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts and place new weapons systems along the border.