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NEWS: Dahlia in Bloom Staff, Ekachi Epilka Studio Respond to Report Claiming N. Korean Animators Wo


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Eddy2



Joined: 08 Oct 2022
Posts: 220
PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 9:19 am Reply with quote
What the hell…?
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The_Outsider



Joined: 09 Sep 2021
Posts: 50
PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 9:32 am Reply with quote
It ain't really uncommon, SEK has been a part of the animation industry for some time now, they even did some uncredited work for an episode of Avatar The Last Airbender and the 2003 version of TMNT.

Edit: In fact I should mention their work on ATLA was outsourced by MOI, as the south's relations with the north were relatively better back then.
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 781
PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 9:51 am Reply with quote
What is the significance of this...? why is it subject to so much investigation? Like, is it just because it's strange for N. Koreans to have been involved due to the situation there, or is it accusing the workers of doing subterfuge to... get work at all? Like what would be the consequences if this was true.
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NebulousNeon



Joined: 06 Apr 2022
Posts: 29
PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 10:04 am Reply with quote
Arale Kurashiki wrote:
What is the significance of this...? why is it subject to so much investigation? Like, is it just because it's strange for N. Koreans to have been involved due to the situation there, or is it accusing the workers of doing subterfuge to... get work at all? Like what would be the consequences if this was true.


Sanctions against whoever arranged this. At least from the perspective of Skydance, since it's illegal for American companies to do business with North Korea in any fashion. So it would probably lead to some ties to outsourcing being severed.
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invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2487
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 10:17 am Reply with quote
Arale Kurashiki wrote:
What is the significance of this...? why is it subject to so much investigation? Like, is it just because it's strange for N. Koreans to have been involved due to the situation there, or is it accusing the workers of doing subterfuge to... get work at all? Like what would be the consequences if this was true.

Possibly in violation of international sanctions against North Korea, for starters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_sanctions_against_North_Korea

Also, since North Korea has a habit of lobbing test missiles into the Sea of Japan, this may play even worse over there than it does here.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6501
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 11:54 am Reply with quote
I heard about this story a few days ago via CNN but it's not only anime but also American cartoon too that are also unfortunately a victim of the unknowingly outsourcing to North Korea. I was wondering when ANN was going to report on this and now I'm glad to see this story being brought to light.
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tinyirnfist0



Joined: 13 Oct 2021
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 12:31 pm Reply with quote
There were also reports of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean spies. https://www.barrons.com/news/n-korean-abductions-of-japanese-remain-contentious-issue-dc7b52f9
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revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 900
PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 9:22 pm Reply with quote
A Japanese anime animated by a country who hates Japan.
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revolutionotaku



Joined: 19 May 2011
Posts: 900
PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 9:31 pm Reply with quote
The_Outsider wrote:
It ain't really uncommon, SEK has been a part of the animation industry for some time now, they even did some uncredited work for an episode of Avatar The Last Airbender and the 2003 version of TMNT.

As well as The Simpsons Movie.
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AverageAnimeFan



Joined: 25 Jan 2024
Posts: 66
PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 12:17 am Reply with quote
tinyirnfist0 wrote:
There were also reports of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean spies. https://www.barrons.com/news/n-korean-abductions-of-japanese-remain-contentious-issue-dc7b52f9


To be fair, N. Korea has only admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_Japanese_citizens
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Philmister978



Joined: 12 Jun 2011
Posts: 336
PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 5:20 am Reply with quote
revolutionotaku wrote:
The_Outsider wrote:
It ain't really uncommon, SEK has been a part of the animation industry for some time now, they even did some uncredited work for an episode of Avatar The Last Airbender and the 2003 version of TMNT.

As well as The Simpsons Movie.

As was Bender's Big Score.

North Korean outsourcing is actually more common than you'd think, given how Mondo TV does (or at least, did) it all the time. It's definitely likely we've been watching shows unknowingly co-animated by North Koreans for years, outsourced by Chinese and South Korean studios. But with the way animators are credited in animation (Anime has the bad habit of only crediting select animators from outsource parties; while western media frequently doesn't credit overseas animators, only the companies they work with), we'll never know.
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Zimmer



Joined: 08 Jul 2015
Posts: 201
PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 6:25 am Reply with quote
These poor companies tricked by evil North Korea when all they wanted was some cheap overseas labour. Oh, the tragedy of it all!
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5959
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 8:12 am Reply with quote
AverageAnimeFan wrote:
tinyirnfist0 wrote:
There were also reports of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean spies. https://www.barrons.com/news/n-korean-abductions-of-japanese-remain-contentious-issue-dc7b52f9


To be fair, N. Korea has only admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_Japanese_citizens


Don't know what there is to be fair about, kidnapping citizens of another country, secretly transporting them to your country, and demanding under pain of death to work for your country for life, seems to be more unfair to North Korea's victims.
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KabaKabaFruit



Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Posts: 1903
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2024 8:39 pm Reply with quote
If the labor is there and is capable, then I can see how outsourcing to North Korea would be business beneficial despite the human rights concerns.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows, but so does business.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14896
PostPosted: Wed May 01, 2024 4:37 am Reply with quote
KabaKabaFruit wrote:

If the labor is there and is capable, then I can see how outsourcing to North Korea would be business beneficial despite the human rights concerns.


"Despite the human rights concerns" is a big PR hit

Like what's happening now in the Israel-Palestine conflict
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