According to a report by the North Korean Central News Agency on August 4, a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry stated in a statement that he protested against the 'Warning to North Korean IT Personnel' issued jointly by the United States and 10 other countries, calling it 'baseless slander and defamation'.
On July 31, a multilateral sanctions monitoring group (MSMT) composed of the United States, Japan, South Korea, along with the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, issued a joint statement warning that North Korean IT professionals are using artificial intelligence and falsifying documents to impersonate citizens of other countries in order to obtain online job opportunities. This is aimed at facilitating financial resources for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The statement also noted that these individuals could pose internal threats to businesses, including concerns regarding data and cryptocurrency theft.
The spokesman for the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded in kind, stating that the United States “has and operates the world's largest cyber power, monopolizing the core resources of the cyber space,” while using “cyber threats” from other countries as a argument. “This is a fundamentally untenable claim.”
The spokesperson said that the United States is the first country in the world to establish a Cyber Command and to vigorously conduct joint cyber exercises with allies. It is also the country that has formed military industrial alliances for cyber warfare and continuously strengthened its cyber attack capabilities. He further stated that the malicious claims made by MSMT members are simply “disseminating baseless false information.” North Korea expressed its firm opposition to attempts by the United States and its forces to politicize and ideologize cyber issues, and to use them as a means to suppress other countries.
Additionally, a military commentator from the Korean Central News Agency published an article on the same day, stating that the "trinity" military threat posed by the US, Japan, and South Korea is becoming increasingly solidified, becoming a new security crisis in the Asia-Pacific region. The article characterized the "Ring of Fire-2026" military exercises scheduled to take place in Hawaii from June 24 to July 31 as a "preparatory exercise for an aggressive war." This year alone, the US and its "foe allies" have mobilized over 30,000 troops, more than 30 ships, 5 submarines, and over 190 aircraft, making it the largest joint military exercise in the world. Meanwhile, the deputy commander of the US Pacific Fleet stated that the participation of South Korea and Japan as commanders in this exercise was "not symbolic, but aimed at actual combat operations." The article warned that the confrontational actions of the US, Japan, and South Korea have "crossed the red line," and North Korea will "respond with new levels of deterrence to new levels of threat."
