North Korean animators may have worked on popular U.S., Japanese series: Report

North Korea

Published: 23 Apr. 2024, 17:26 Updated: 23 Apr. 2024, 19:15

North Korean animators may have worked on popular U.S., Japanese series: Report

A screen capture of a production frame for U.S. animated series ″Invincible” taken from Washington-based think tank 38 North. [38 NORTH]

North Korean animators appear to have participated in producing works for U.S. and Japanese animation studios without the companies’ knowledge, shedding light on how companies may inadvertently employ North Korean workers in violation of international sanctions.

The report comes after a cloud storage server located in North Korea was discovered. A configuration error made files into and out of the server viewable to anyone without a password, according to a report published Monday by 38 North, a Washington-based website devoted to analyzing North Korea.

In January, a batch of files from the server was found to contain sketches and videos that resembled recent projects of popular U.S. and Japanese cartoons, editing instructions and comments in Chinese and Korean.

Exposed files included frames for productions streamed or soon-to-be on Amazon, HBO Max and the BBC.

Along with sketches for an upcoming season of the Amazon original animated series “Invincible,” the files also contained works that were identified as "Iyanu, Child of Wonder,” a superhero animated series soon to air on HBO Max, and "Octonauts,” a BBC children's cartoon.

This revelation comes as a shock as U.S. sanctions prohibit most trade with North Korea. North Korea's animation industry is a primary source of propaganda and a means of earning foreign currency.

A screen capture of the April 26 Animation Studio that aired on the North’s state-controlled Korean Central Television (KCTV) in 2020 taken from Washington-based think tank. [38 NORTH]

The identity of the North Korean partner was not disclosed, but 38 North suspects it may be the April 26 Animation Studio, also known as SEK Studio.

Founded in 1957, the Pyongyang-based animation studio has produced a series of North Korean animated films, including "Squirrel and Hedgehog.” The U.S. Treasury Department specifically placed the studio under sanctions in 2021 for its connection to the illegal employment of North Korean illustrators in China.

Chinese front companies may have transferred information between the production firms and North Korean animators.

Martyn Williams, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center who wrote the report, examined the North Korean server's access logs and discovered that three IP addresses were in China, including two registered to Liaoning Province, which borders North Korea.

All three locations reportedly have many North Korean-operated businesses and are centers for North Korean IT workers overseas, according to the report.

A screen capture of a document on which a Chinese comment has been translated into Korean taken from Washington-based think tank 38 North. [38 North]

Williams told Voice of America (VOA) on Tuesday that Chinese or other Asian subcontracted companies may have outsourced work to North Korean firms in China, with North Koreans possibly sending work back to Pyongyang for completion.

A South Korean company may have also been involved in the matter. CNN reported on Tuesday that a source familiar with the case told the network that Lion Forge Entertainment contracted with a South Korea-based animation studio for the work. Late last year, however, the company discovered that the South Korean studio had further outsourced animation work for “Iyanu” to other South Korean companies without authorization.

The South Korean studio denied involvement with North Korea, claiming they only outsourced work to South Korean companies.

A screen capture of a North Korean animator working at the April 26 Animation Studio, seen on KCTV on Nov. 27, 2020, taken from Washington-based think tank 38 North. [38 NORTH]

No evidence indicates that the ordering studios in the United States or Japan knew that their projects were outsourced to North Korean illustrators, according to 38 North. “Given that the editing comments were in Chinese, the subcontracting arrangement was likely several steps downstream from the original subcontractors,” the website wrote.

The report highlighted that the incident demonstrates “how foreign companies might be inadvertently employing North Korean companies” and underlined “how difficult it is for foreign companies to verify their outsourced work is not potentially breaking sanctions and ending up on computers in Pyongyang.”

The U.S. government has previously cautioned local companies about the possibility of inadvertently hiring North Korean workers. In mid-2022, the United States warned companies that they could unintentionally breach U.S. and United Nations sanctions by unknowingly hiring North Korean IT workers when seeking remote contractors.

Regarding Pyongyang's alleged involvement in animation production, a South Korean Unification Ministry official on Tuesday said the government "is making various efforts to ensure that sanctions against North Korea are implemented appropriately."

BY WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]