Despite the sanctions, North Koreans were also allowed to work on HBO Max’s animated productions

Despite international sanctions, North Korean animators have been able to contribute to the creation of animation productions for Western studios such as Amazon and HBO Max, MTI writes based on a report by 38 North researchers, which was published on Monday. 38 North is a Washington-based analyst firm that deals with North Korea.

The researchers discovered files on a North Korean Internet server that contained animations, written instructions and comments related to upcoming foreign productions. Among the projects listed was Amazon Original Invincible c. TV series produced by California-based Skybound Entertainment, as well as the Iyanu, Child of Wonder c. animated series, which is produced at the YouNeek studio in Maryland, and is also available in the United States on HBO Max from January.

According to the report, from the materials found, it can be concluded that an intermediary was responsible for passing information between the production companies and the animators. However, the person or persons who uploaded the files could not be identified, nor could the North Korean animators.

38 North also found three Chinese Internet addresses on the servers, two of which were registered in the Chinese province of Liaoning, which borders North Korea. Michael Barnhart – who also participated in the research – said that the animation contracts were probably outsourced from China to North Korea by a front company.

Reuters writes that US sanctions prohibit almost all types of commercial activity between US citizens and North Korean organizations. According to Barnhart, the Western companies were certainly not aware that North Korean animators were also working on the productions.

An Amazon spokesperson would not comment on the issue, but Skybound Entertainment stated that they were not aware that a North Korean company could be working on their animation, but that they immediately launched an internal investigation to find out if such a thing could have happened. A spokesperson for the studio added that they have notified the appropriate authorities about the matter and are cooperating with them. HBO Max and YouNeek have not yet commented on the matter.

North Korea’s leading animation studio, April 26 Animation Studio in Pyongyang, or SEK Studio, previously worked on international projects. However, in 2016, the US Department of Finance declared it a state-owned company, which is why international sanctions are also in force against the studio. The US government imposed sanctions in 2021 and again in 2022 against Chinese companies that cooperated with the North Korean studio or played an intermediary role.