North Korean Animators May Be Working on Western Shows, Report Finds

A new report from researches at Washington-based North Korea watchdog program 38 North raises flags that animation artists in the country have worked on animated projects from overseas studios. Files discovered on a DPRK internet server included animations, written instructions and comments that appear related to certain productions, and appear to be tied to subcontracting work from Chinese studios.

38 North revealed that potentially involved productions include Season 3 of Amazon MGM Studios/Skybound Entertainment’s Invincible, for Prime Video. Files contained both the series title and that of a Skybound subsidiary, Viltrumite Pants, LLC, the production label behind the show. Skybound told Reuters it had no knowledge of North Korean studios working on its animation, and has initiated an internal review as well notifying and cooperating with “proper authorities.”

Also possibly impacted is Iyanu, based on the African superhero comics created by YouNeek Studios and being produced by Lion Forge Entertainment for Cartoon Network and Max. No additional comment from the studios and streamers was offered.

U.S. sanctions prohibit nearly all commercial activity with North Korea. An employee with Google-owned computer security firm Mandiant who worked on the research project notes that there was no indication the Western studios were aware of the activity.

The 38 North report says that as researchers continued to observe traffic to the server through January, “Each day, a new batch of files would appear that included instructions for animation work and the results of that day’s work. Often the files contained editing comments and instructions in Chinese, presumably written by the production company, along with a translation of those instructions into Korean. This suggests a go-between was responsible for relaying information between the production companies and the animators.”

Mandian helped the project determine three IP addresses in China were accessing the server, including two in the Liaoning Province which abuts North Korea and is home to many North Korean-operated business and IT workers who have relocated in search of higher pay. A DPRK defector who formerly worked at Pyongyang’s biggest animation studio, SEK, told Reuters that many animators have left the country for China and worked as artists under false pretense of being construction workers, where they are paid “$100 per month … compared to $1 back home.”

SEK (also known as April 26 Animation Studio) had in the past worked on international projects. The U.S. Treasury designated it as a state-owned enterprise in 2016 and put it under sanctions. These were followed by additional sanctions against Chinese companies that worked with or liaised for the studio, imposed in 2021 and 2022.

[Source: Reuters]