A recent event related to North Korea shook the Internet, since a server was discovered that had a flaw in the configuration, and when it was checked it was noticed that it came from this country. This server allowed to see a lot of information, including some data related to the world of anime that although for the public could be something interesting to see, this was a cause of concern for some companies, since working with companies or employing personnel from North Korea, could bring serious consequences even without their knowledge.
North Korean animators could be involved in international animes
The story begins in late 2023 with the discovery of a cloud server with a North Korean IP address, which is apparently no longer in use and was misconfigured, allowing anyone to access and retrieve files from it on a daily basis without a password. In North Korea the use of such servers is quite common, as IT workers do not have direct access to the internet, so they must request approval to use the internet from the limited number of computers that do have internet access.
This discovery was made by Nick Roy, who is in charge of the blog called NK Internet and who participated with others in monitoring the file flow of this server, where they noticed that some animation work instructions were appearing. Some of these files contained comments and editing instructions in Chinese, along with some Korean translations, allegedly written by the production company, suggesting that it was an exchange of information between the production company and the animators.
The identity of the person who leaked the information was never disclosed, nor the Korean-born associate with whom the documents were in contact, but it could be assumed that it was the animation studio known as SEK Studio. This Pyongyang-based organization is the largest animation studio in North Korea, producing series such as the popular “Squirrel and Hedgehog”, the reason for assuming it was this company is that it had previously worked on several international projects including some with South Korean companies in the early 2000s.
However, the U.S. government had already sanctioned Chinese companies that have worked for or have been intermediaries of this North Korean animation studio. Several connections associated with VPNs were revealed, but among those not related to a VPN were addresses in Spain and China. Two of the addresses in China were registered in Liaoning Province, which borders North Korea, including the cities of Dandong, Dalian and Shenyang, which are known to have many North Korean businesses and to be major hubs for North Korean IT workers living outside their country.
Due to the number of projects found, it is believed that several animators were involved in the work. In the month that this server was monitored, a few projects were identified that included:
- Season 3 of “Invincible,” an Amazon original animated production produced by Skybound Entertainment. A document on the server had the name of the series and “Viltruminte Pants LLC,” which is part of Skybound.
- “Iyanu, Child of Wonder,” an anime about a superhero created by YouNeek Studios, produced and animated by Lion Forge Entertainment that is expected to air in 2024 on HBO Max.
- “Dahliya In Bloom” a Japanese anime scheduled to premiere from July 2024.
- Files named “Cat” in Japanese that also contained the name of Ekachi Epilka, an animation studio in Hokkaido, Japan.
- Video files that appear to be from “Octonauts,” a children’s cartoon from the company. The files contained no additional information and appeared to be complete, so it is possible that these were not worked on by the animators.
- An unidentified animation series with documents referring to Shepherd Boy Animation.
There is no evidence that the companies that were identified were aware that any of their projects had been subcontracted to North Korean animators. In fact, since the editing comments in all the files, including those directed toward the U.S. animators, were written in Chinese, the contracts were probably made without the approval of the senior producers. There were also many files that could never be identified, files with instructions for video special effects for what appeared to be a Chinese basketball movie.
As mentioned earlier in mid-2022, the U.S. government warned some companies that they may have unwittingly hired some North Korean IT workers, including animators. This could occur in the search for remote contractors. Some consultants warned the companies of the sanctions they may face from the U.S. and the United Nations. It was also found that North Korean workers often present themselves as foreign or U.S.-based workers and may use VPNs or other methods to appear to live in another country.
To prevent this, it was recommended that companies integrate additional steps to verify the documents of the people they hire such as video interviews, background checks and fingerprint access to ensure that the workers hired are identified and are those who will work on the project. However, the ability of the North Korean studio to apparently continue to work on international projects highlights the difficulty the U.S. has in enforcing current sanctions on a global industry. It also highlights that U.S. animation studios should be better informed about the companies involved in their projects.