Allegations have emerged that North Korean workers were involved in the production of the popular adult superhero animation “Invincible,” which is streamed on Amazon Prime in the United States. The production was primarily managed by an American company, which outsourced parts of the work to studios in South Korea and China. Suspicions arose after the discovery of unpublished draft sketches and documents resembling task directives on a North Korean website. If these allegations prove to be true, it would mean that the U.S. has indirectly collaborated with North Korea’s animation industry, which is subject to U.S. sanctions, potentially causing significant repercussions.
CNN and the Stimson Center, a foreign policy and security think tank in Washington D.C., reported on April 22 that “illustrators and graphic designers from North Korea, one of the most closed economies in the world, appear to have been involved in the production of popular American cartoons.” The case came to light when Nick Roy, a cyber detective from Boston who explores North Korean sites as a hobby, discovered numerous animation sketches on an unsecured North Korean cloud server in December last year. Documents marked “Invincible” at the top had detailed instructions on animation size and style modifications in Chinese and Korean. Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by Google, said, “Log files indicate that China might have outsourced animation projects to North Korea.”
The series, rated for viewers 19 and older, has produced two seasons since 2021 and gained popularity featuring the voice of Korean-American Hollywood actor Steven Yeun. The production was primarily overseen by Skybound Entertainment, based in California. The company denied any connection with North Korean or Chinese companies to CNN, while saying that they are closely monitoring the situation and will initiate an investigation into the reports. Documents related to unreleased popular animations from the U.S. and Japan, such as “Iyanu: Child of Wonder” and “Dahlia in Bloom,” were also found; companies involved in their production, like Lion Forge Entertainment and YouNeek Studios, refused to respond. CNN cited sources saying that Lion Forge Entertainment had contracted with a South Korean animation studio for “Iyanu,” but terminated the contract after discovering the company had unauthorizedly outsourced the work.
Martin Williams, a senior researcher specializing in North Korea at the Stimson Center, said, “The North Koreans have a lot of software companies set up in China that act as kind of fronts and will send information, send work back to Pyongyang, where the work is done.” He analyzed, “There is no evidence to suggest that the companies...had any knowledge that a part of their project had been subcontracted to North Korean animators,” adding that “it is likely that the contracting arrangement was several steps downstream from the major producers.” CNN said, “This discovery raises questions about the ability of U.S. tech and creative arts companies to control their supply chains and avoid work that could inadvertently violate sanctions banning countries from doing business with North Korea.” In 2022, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Treasury Department issued a specific advisory targeting the animation industry, where North Korean IT workers are particularly active.
Despite the poor production environment, North Korea’s animation industry is known to be of a high standard. When construction began on the Kaesong Industrial Complex in 2000, there was a plan to create an animation studio utilizing North Korea’s cheap labor. Since the early 1980s, as part of its profit-generating enterprises, North Korea has been receiving animation production subcontracting jobs from countries like China, the former Soviet Union (Russia), France, Italy, and others.
