North Korean officials have responded to the charges made by the U.S. Government against a North Korean citizen. Park Jin Hyok is accused of working through a Chinese firm as a front for launching some of the largest cyber-attacks to come out of North Korea including WannaCry, the Sony hack, the theft from the Central Bank of Bangladesh and several others. It was expected when government officials from the United States requested that North Korea hand over Park Jin Hyok that they would both refuse and insist that the accusations are false and/or baseless, which is exactly what they did. There was a twist in the story though that was a bit more unexpected. North Korea went so far as to claim that Park Jin Hyok does not even exist. North Korean officials will likely attempt to use this as an opportunity to be able to push back a little against the U.S. during de-escalation talks and ensure that they are able to get their way, or at least push for a more acceptable compromise, on issues that are key to North Korea.
