North Koreans may have worked on Amazon and Max animations, report shows

The reputable website 38 North, which monitors North Korea, has found evidence suggesting that third-party companies may have outsourced work for the Amazon series “Invincible” and the Max series “Iyanu, Child of Wonder” without the US companies have been aware of it.

North Korea has an extensive animation industry, which provides the country with much-needed income. The major state-owned cartoon producer SEK Studio was specifically listed on the US sanctions list in 2021.

Nevertheless, 38 North was able to see earlier this year that a server in a cloud service based in North Korea was being uploaded daily with images from Western series as well as instructions and feedback to the animators.

– There is no evidence that the companies that can be identified based on the images have had knowledge that parts of their projects have been outsourced to North Korean animators, the report states.

Furthermore, it says that the evidence underscores how difficult it is to enforce US restrictions in such a global industry, and that US animation companies need to stay much better informed about all the companies involved in their projects.

Amazon has not responded to inquiries from the AFP news agency to comment on the case, and Max says they do not want to say anything.

A source with knowledge of the latter’s “Iyanu” project says that a South Korean animation studio that was hired is no longer involved after it emerged that they outsourced parts of the work to subcontractors.