North Korea slams new US sanctions over cybercrime, vows countermeasures

North Korea has blasted the latest round of US sanctions as “wicked hostility,” accusing Washington of using cybercrime allegations as a pretext to strangle its economy while promising to hit back “with patience for any length of time.”

The statement from Vice Foreign Minister Kim Un Chol on Thursday came two days after the US Treasury blacklisted eight people and two firms, including North Korean bankers, for allegedly laundering proceeds from state-run hacking operations.

Washington says Pyongyang has stolen more than $3 billion in digital assets over the past three years, the largest such theft by any government, and used the money to fund its nuclear weapons programme. The Treasury claims the schemes rely on a global web of shell firms and financial proxies spanning North Korea, China, and Russia.

“Now that the present US administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it,” Kim said, adding that sanctions would never change Pyongyang’s “thinking and viewpoint.”

The move comes even as President Donald Trump continues to float the idea of reviving talks with Kim Jong Un. Their last nuclear negotiations collapsed in 2019 after failing to agree on sanctions relief and disarmament steps.

Since then, Kim has refused any dialogue with Washington or Seoul, pivoting toward Moscow instead. North Korea has sent both soldiers and weapons to support Russia’s war in Ukraine while deepening military ties with Vladimir Putin’s government.

In a recent speech, Kim urged Washington to drop its precondition that North Korea abandon its nuclear arsenal before talks resume, and brushed off Trump’s invitation for a meeting during the APEC summit in South Korea last week.