Documents found on a North Korean server suggest US studios may have unknowingly outsourced animation work

CNN —

North Korean illustrators and graphic designers appear to have helped produce work for US animation studios unbeknownst to those companies, suggesting that unreleased episodes of a few popular American cartoons could include work from one of the most closed-off economies in the world.

The revelation comes from a trove of documents recently discovered by US researchers inside a computer server housed in North Korea. It’s unclear how the files ended up in this tightly controlled portion of the internet, but the researchers who analyzed them told CNN they appear to be the result of work that was unknowingly outsourced to North Korean workers.

The US has imposed strict sanctions prohibiting American companies from doing business with the nuclear-armed regime.

In addition to drawings for an upcoming season of the Amazon Prime Videoshow “Invincible,” the files also contain sketches and videos that resemble work for “Iyanu: Child of Wonder,” a superhero series slated to air on Max, the streaming service that, along with CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

There is no evidence that the studios had any knowledge their proprietary work was on a North Korean server.

The files were discovered in December by Nick Roy, a Boston-based cyber-sleuth who regularly scans the North Korean internet as a hobby. Roy found a new North Korean website that outside visitors didn’t need a password to access, unlocking a trove of animation sketches, and shared them with the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank. 

The documents include a series of Chinese instructions that have been translated into Korean. They call for making adjustments to the size and style of the animation. Among the documents, there is also an