(LEAD) No talks yet on sanctions over N. Korea's alleged Binance theft: unification ministry official

(ATTN: ADDS foreign ministry's comments in paras 7-9)

SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Yonhap) -- The government has not begun discussing sanctions on North Korea over its alleged theft of a massive amount of cryptocurrency, a unification ministry official said Thursday.

"As of now, the government has not fully grasped the exact circumstances of the hacking case, so a discussion on how to respond to it has not even begun," the official told reporters at the government complex in Seoul.

"Internal sharing and discussion inside the government are needed, but we have not reached that stage," the official added.

Last week, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than US$6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Earlier this week, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, rejected the accusation, calling it a "grave political provocation" against the North.

North Korea has been blamed for cyber thefts before and has consistently denied any involvement.

The foreign ministry said that it is internally reviewing various measures, including unilateral sanctions against North Korea over its illicit cyber activities.

"Taking into account various serious issues, we are conducting an internal review of additional measures, including the unilateral cyber sanctions, though no decision has been made yet," ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon told a regular briefing, responding to a reporter's question about the possibility of sanctions on Pyongyang in connection with the Binance case.

"The government has made multifaceted efforts to counter North Korea's illicit cyber activities, including operating working groups with the United States and in a trilateral format with the United States and Japan," Park added.

Separately, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has opposed sanctions proposed against the North over the Sept. 21 land mine blast inside the Demilitarized Zone that wounded three South Korean soldiers, two of them seriously.

Opposition parties have criticized him as being too lenient toward Pyongyang, while Chung has said such a measure would only provoke the North without producing any positive outcome.

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr

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