PYONGYANG: North Korea has slammed Britain for accusations of it being responsible for a global ransomware attack that hit the National Health Service. It called the allegation a “wicked attempt” to tighten international sanctions against Pyongyang. A spokesperson for the North Korea-Europe Association denied all accusations, even warning Britain against “groundless speculation”.
“This is an act beyond the limit of our tolerance and it makes us question the real purpose behind the UK's move,” he said. “The moves of the UK government to doggedly associate the DPRK with the cyber attack cannot be interpreted in any other way than a wicked attempt to lure the international community into harbouring greater mistrust of the DPRK.” The statement comes in response to Home Office Minister Ben Wallace's statement on BBC last week that London was “as sure as possible” that North Korea was responsible for the cyber attack.
A third of Britain's public hospitals were affected by the WannaCry worm in May. Up to 300,000 computers in 150 countries were hit by the virus which seized systems and demanded payment in Bitcoin to return control to users. Some researchers pointed fingers at Pyongyang, saying the code used was similar to past hacks blamed on Kim Jong-un's regime. South Korean government said the North has a 6800-strong unit of trained cyberwarfare specialists. Kim has stepped up cyber attacks in recent years, in a bid to earn hard foreign currency in the face of tougher United Nations sanctions imposed over its nuclear and missile programmes.
