Pyongyang: North Korea on Monday denounced a recent joint statement by South Korea, the United States, and Japan criticizing the regime's malicious cyber activities, calling it a "political farce." The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued the criticism in a statement by the foreign ministry's press chief after the three countries voiced "serious concerns" in their joint statement last week over evolving malicious cyber activities by North Korean information technology (IT) workers.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the three countries accused North Korean IT workers of using artificial intelligence tools and other methods for cyber activities aimed at funding Pyongyang's illicit weapons programs. They vowed to work together in response to these alleged activities.

The KCNA "strongly denounced" the statement, referring to it as a "political farce" designed to internationally propagate "groundless" rumors about cyber threats and to smear North Korea's image as a way to increase pressure on the regime.

The statement from KCNA also warned that the more the U.S. and its allies engage in what it called outdated and hostile acts, the greater the "insurmountable distrust and hostility" between North Korea and the U.S. will become.

The North Korean regime stated it would seek "practical measures" to protect its interests against increasingly "explicit" acts by what it referred to as "hostile countries" in cyberspace and other domains, aiming to nullify their "malicious effects."