North Koreans May Have Helped Animate Prime, Max Shows
By Movieguide® Contributor
Researchers have found that North Koreans may have been animating shows for Prime Video and Max.
Nick Roy has been investigating North Korea’s internet usage and found something interesting this past December. “A misconfigured cloud server on a North Korean IP address containing thousands of animation files,” including content from Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max, was discovered.
This discovery also included Chinese instructions, which had been translated into Korean.
“Based on the documents and drawings, the researchers were able to identify some of the shows and projects the North Koreans were working on,” WIRED reported. “Some of the projects included work from season 3 of the Amazon show INVINCIBLE, which is produced by California-based Skybound Entertainment. There were also documents linked to Max and Cartoon Network show IYANU: CHILD OF WONDER, produced by YouNeek Studios, as well as files from a Japanese anime series and an animation studio in Japan.”
Engadget noted that “US sanctions prohibit commercial activity with North Korean entities, due to human rights abuses and the advancement of its nuclear weapons program.”
However, Michael Barnhart, a researcher who studies North Korea, said, “There was nothing to indicate the Western companies had knowledge of the arrangements, which appeared to involve subcontracting of work to China.”
Skybound Entertainment made a statement on the recent findings.
“We do not work with North Korean companies, or Chinese companies on Invincible, or any affiliated entities, and have no knowledge of any North Korean or Chinese companies working on INVINCIBLE.” Skybound Entertainment said in response to the findings.
“Skybound Entertainment takes these allegations seriously and has initiated a thorough internal review to verify and rectify any potential issues. We have also notified the proper authorities and are cooperating with all appropriate bodies,” the studio added on X.
WIRED shared the harsh reality of what it’s like to use the internet in North Korea.
“Only a few thousand of the country’s 26 million people can get on the internet. When they do, it’s highly controlled: These select few North Koreans can use the internet for an hour at a time and have a person sitting next to them approving their use every five minutes,” the outlet reported.
However, there is concern over hacking capabilities. The FBI issued an alert in 2022 over concern that “North Korean freelance IT workers were infiltrating businesses to earn money they could funnel back home.”
“The volume is much higher than we were expecting,” North Korean researcher Michael Barnhart said of the country’s IT workers. “They are constantly changing their tactics to avoid being caught.”
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