According to an investigation carried out by 38 North, which monitored a North Korean cloud server throughout the month of January 2024, North Korean employees would have worked on animation projects in the Amazon and HBO Max studios. They subcontract part of the work to China, which, according to hypotheses, would have in turn transferred some sketches to the animators in Pyongyang.
Rome (/Agencies) – Despite the sanctions imposed on North Korea, foreign companies of the caliber of Amazon and HBO Max would have used (without knowing it) the work of North Korean companies to develop projects in the field of animation . Indeed, multinationals often subcontract some jobs to China, which according to a report published by 38 North would have used North Korean labor to carry them out. Therefore, according to the investigation, there would not be a consensual collaboration between the American giants and Pyongyang's IT giants, but rather it is one of the many methods by which the North Korean regime evades the restrictions imposed by the international community with the help from Beijing.
The hypothesis that North Korean employees collaborated in the making of Western-produced animated films began to gain ground when a team of researchers monitored files on a North Korean server throughout the month of January 2024. The cloud server, discovered in late 2023 by Nick Roy, editor of the North Korean Internet blog, was configured incorrectly and allowed anyone to access and view the files, without needing a password. The use of servers in North Korea is widespread because network users do not have direct access to the Internet and are monitored while using a computer.
“Each day a new batch of files appeared containing instructions for the animation work and the results of that day's work,” says the report released today by Washington. The files analyzed include animations, written instructions and comments that appear to refer to production projects for foreign studios. Among them would be “Invincible”, an Amazon original animated series, produced by the Californian company Skybound Entertainment, and “Iyanu, Child of Wonder”, an animated about a superhero created by YouNeek Studios, based in Maryland, which will air this year on HBO Max.
This implies that working relations exist between the United States and North Korea, despite sanctions that prohibit virtually all commercial activities with Pyongyang. The same April 26 Animation Studio (SEK Studio), North Korea's largest animation company, was placed under sanctions in 2016 by the US Treasury Department. And the sanctions also affect companies that worked with April 26 between 2021 and 2022.
However, it is not easy to determine whether anyone knew about these reports that have brought to light a security breach. Reuters reports that Amazon declines to comment and refers to Skybound Entertainment. The latter denied knowledge of relations with North Korea and announced that it would launch an internal investigation. Similar result on HBO Max and YouNeek: no response.
The monitored files contained comments and instructions for editing procedures, in both Chinese and Korean, suggesting that there is mediation that would have allowed the transfer of data from the production companies to the animators. It is likely that a Chinese front agency is responsible. In fact, it is clear that three Internet addresses in China also accessed the server, two of which are in Liaoning province, on the border with North Korea.
The 38 North report says it has not been possible to discover the identity of the people involved. In any case, apparently collaborations with foreign studios are not new. April 26 Animation Studio itself, for example, had already worked on international projects in the past. Choi Seong-guk, a North Korean defecting web artist who worked at SEK Studio between 1996 and 2002, told Reuters that there was a team assigned to work jointly with foreign studios. An opportunity to start collaborations that are decidedly more profitable than those proposed by the North Korean studio. Several of his fellow North Korean cartoonists, he added, left Pyongyang and went to work mainly in China, where they were supposedly construction workers but actually created animations.
