(LEAD) N. Korea says dialogue with U.S. an option but not a must for national interest

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SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Wednesday that dialogue with the United States remains an option for peace, but that it would not be necessary for its own interest while again stressing the U.S.' accusation of its involvement in a major cryptocurrency theft as a sign of Washington's hostility toward Pyongyang.

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made the remarks, saying the continued "hostile signal" by Washington was compelling the regime to reconsider the "true nature" of the U.S.

"The choice for peace includes dialogue of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us," Kim said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The remarks came a day after she rejected the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) findings that the regime was behind the theft of more than US$6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. She earlier called the accusation a "grave political provocation" against the North.

"The so-called 'cryptocurrency hacking case by the DPRK' is no more than a tip of iceberg that shows the essence of the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK," Kim reiterated Wednesday, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Kim pointed to a recent trilateral meeting between the top diplomats of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, where they reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea, along with various joint military drills, as other examples of U.S. hostility.

"The U.S. abandonment of its hostile policy" toward Pyongyang "is a major premise and key to solving all problems," she said, adding that North Korea has no reason to engage in talks with the U.S. unless that happens.

"It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation," she said.

She further warned that Pyongyang would respond to what it views as continued U.S. hostility.

"In the present reality when new records are being set in the implementation of the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK, it is natural that new records should be created in our reflective counteraction."

She did not specify what counteractions Pyongyang would take.

sookim@yna.co.kr
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