North Korea launched several missiles toward its eastern waters on Wednesday, hours after rejecting American accusations that its hackers carried out the record theft from cryptocurrency exchange Binance. South Korea's military detected the launches and said Seoul and Washington were analysing their type, range and flight data.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korean forces remained ready to respond to further provocations. Pyongyang did not immediately provide its own technical description, leaving uncertainty over whether the missiles were ballistic, cruise or part of another weapons programme intended to complicate regional air and missile defence.
The launches followed statements by Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un. She called the FBI's attribution of the Binance attack an extension of Washington's hostile policy and said North Korea had no need to meet officials it considered unreliable and antagonistic.
Binance said hackers stole more than $6 billion, apparently the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. The FBI attributed the operation to the North Korean group TraderTraitor, which it also linked to the $1.5 billion Bybit breach last year. Pyongyang has denied responsibility and characterised the allegation as a political provocation.
The timing gives the weapons test a diplomatic function as well as a military one. Donald Trump has expressed interest in restoring talks with Kim, but North Korea is signalling that dialogue would require concessions and a change in US policy rather than a return to negotiations on Washington's existing terms.
State media simultaneously released images of a large warship under construction at the Nampho Shipyard. Kim inspected the vessel and praised its scale. He has previously announced plans for a 10,000-ton strategic guided-missile cruiser, substantially larger than North Korea's 5,000-ton destroyers.
Tensions are also rising along the inter-Korean border after September mine explosions wounded three South Korean soldiers. Seoul blamed mines laid by the North; Pyongyang denied responsibility and threatened new weapons deployments and propaganda broadcasts. Missile tests, cyber allegations and naval expansion are now reinforcing one another in a broader contest over leverage.
