North Korea says U.S. accusation of hacking a 'smear campaign'

Reuters
FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-metre tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong, in this picture taken from the Tae Sung freedom village near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday U.S. accusations that it was responsible for cyber attacks in 2014 and 2017 were a "smear campaign" and the man sanctioned by Washington does not exist, the official KCNA news agency said. The U.S. government earlier this month charged and sanctioned Pak Jin Hyok in the 2017 global WannaCry ransomware cyberattack and the 2014 cyberassault on Sony Corp. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Joyce Lee; editing by Richard Pullin)