North Korea Cites ‘Rumors’ of FBI Link to Raid on Spain Embassy

(Bloomberg) -- North Korea says it's monitoring “rumors” the FBI was involved in a recent raid on its embassy in Spain.

In Pyongyang's first public statement on the incident, an unidentified foreign ministry spokesperson said North Korea is tracking rumors that the FBI and an anti-North Korea group were involved in the “grave terrorist attack” on its embassy in Madrid on Feb. 22.

An armed group illegally entered the mission, then bound and beat the North Korean staff, the spokesperson was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency on Sunday. Spanish authorities were urged to bring to justice “the terrorists and their wire-pullers” responsible for the raid.

“We are following the rumors of all hues now in the air that FBI of the United States and the small fry of anti-DPRK ‘body' were involved in the terror incident,” KCNA quoted the spokesperson as saying, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is the North's official name.

Earlier this week, a secretive group called Free Joseon, which is seeking to overthrow Kim Jong Un's regime, claimed responsibility for the incident, alleging that North Korea's overseas missions are conduits for illicit funds. The group, previously known as Cheollima Civil Defense, said on Wednesday its actions were in response “to an urgent situation in the Madrid embassy.”

A Spanish court statement said some 10 people took part in the raid, seizing computers and thumb drives from the embassy. The leader of the group, a Mexican citizen who lives in the U.S., had contacted the FBI in New York days after the incident to offer information, according to the Spanish court statement.

The United States has denied it had anything to do with the raid. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said at a briefing on Tuesday that Spanish authorities were handling the investigation. “The United States government had nothing to do with this,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Youkyung Lee in Seoul at ylee582@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Philip Glamann, Andrew Davis

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