The US Treasury has accused North Korea of stealing $3 billion worth of digital assets to finance its three-year nuclear weapons program.
Published November 6, 2025
North Korea has denounced the latest U.S. sanctions targeting cybercrime that the United States says is helping finance its nuclear weapons program, accusing the United States of harboring “evil” hostility toward North Korea and promising unspecified countermeasures.
North Korea’s vice foreign minister’s statement on Thursday came two days after the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on eight people and two companies, including North Korean bankers, for allegedly laundering money through a cybercrime scheme.
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The U.S. Treasury has accused North Korea of carrying out a state-sponsored hacking program that stole more than $3 billion, mostly in digital assets, over the past three years, an amount not matched by any other foreign actor. The Treasury Department said illicit funds helped finance the country’s nuclear weapons program.
The ministry said North Korea relies on a network of banking agents, financial institutions and shell companies from North Korea, China, Russia and elsewhere to launder money obtained through IT worker fraud, cryptocurrency theft and sanctions evasion.
The sanctions were imposed even as US President Donald Trump continues to express interest in resuming talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Nuclear discussions during President Trump’s first term collapsed in 2019 over disagreements over easing U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea in exchange for steps toward dismantling its nuclear program.
North Korean Vice Minister Kim Un Chol said in a statement, “Now that the current U.S. administration has made clear its hostile position towards North Korea, we will take appropriate measures to patiently confront North Korea.”
He said U.S. sanctions and pressure tactics will never change the “current strategic situation” between the two countries or change North Korea’s “mindset or perspective.”
Kim Jong Un has avoided any form of talks with the United States or South Korea since his 2019 clash with President Trump. Since then, Kim Jong-un has made Russia the focus of his foreign policy, sending thousands of soldiers (many of whom died on the battlefield) and large amounts of military equipment to President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, while pursuing an increasingly aggressive strategy aimed at securing a greater role for North Korea in a united front against the US-led West.
In a recent speech, Kim Jong-un called on the United States to drop its demands for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons as a condition for resuming diplomacy. He ignored Trump’s offer last week to meet during the US president’s visit to South Korea to meet with leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
