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Over the last few years, North Korean computer specialists apparently specifically targeted MMOs (Lineage, Dungeon and Fighter), automating gaming, cashing out in item stores and making several million USD in the process - forwarding a large share of it to a fund directly funding Kim-Jong Il, his lifestyle and his weapons program.
The original article is on the NY Times' website, which requires a (free) registration to read it; thus I'll only quote a part of it.
In a little less than two years, the police said, the organizers made $6 million. They gave 55 percent of it to the hackers, who forwarded some of it to agents in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. “They regularly contacted North Korean agents for close consultations,” Chung Kil-hwan, a senior officer at the police agency’s International Crime Investigation Unit, said during a news briefing.
Mr. Chung said the hackers, all graduates of North Korea’s elite science universities, were dispatched from two places: the state-run Korea Computer Center in Pyongyang and the Korea Neungnado General Trading Company. The company, he said, reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales and other illicit activities.
Link to the NY Times article
(german) article on Spiegel Online
Obviously it's just a small part of the fund, and other parts like drug and arms sales will bring it vastly larger amounts of cash. But just think about it - that bot may not just be the average chinese run-of-the-mill bot enabling gold sales or some western guy trying to skip the grind of playing, but instead part of a network that indirectly finances a dictatorship. Talk about the many downsides of botting in games!
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That's a nice way of making a living, i guess.
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It'd be funny to see the media twist this. "Playing WoW supports North Korea."
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Tonight @ 9, an online role-playing game is funding the very country that seeks our destruction. More on this with Sabila Vargas later.
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17053 Posts
North Korea seems to be very adept at finding sources of money that are incredibly inefficient.
I recently patronized a North Korean restaurant in Shanghai (delicious food, by the way), but even if their total sales were ALL given back to Pyongyang, there's no way that restaurant could've given more than a few million dollars back to the government.
...although I suppose opening delicious restaurants is much better than ruining thousands of peoples' lives via drugs or arms sales.
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Lalalaland34502 Posts
The company, he said, reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales and other illicit activities.
I may be a little ignorant on the issue but this just feels a bit like negative propaganda to me.
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On August 08 2011 23:12 Klamity wrote:
It'd be funny to see the media twist this. "Playing WoW supports North Korea."
That's quite light for modern medias.. I'd see something more like :
"Video games support terrorism."
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On August 08 2011 23:15 lurked wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:12 Klamity wrote:
It'd be funny to see the media twist this. "Playing WoW supports North Korea." That's quite light for modern medias.. I'd see something more like : "Video games support terrorism."
Actually I predict: "Are your kid's video games supporting communist regimes? Find out at 11"
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Nytime news for those who doesn't have an account?
e. nvm, just read the OP more carefully.
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On August 08 2011 23:20 redoxx wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:15 lurked wrote:On August 08 2011 23:12 Klamity wrote:
It'd be funny to see the media twist this. "Playing WoW supports North Korea." That's quite light for modern medias.. I'd see something more like : "Video games support terrorism." Actually I predict: "Are your kid's video games supporting communist regimes? Find out at 11"
Yeah, I think yours have more chances to appear... ^^
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17053 Posts
On August 08 2011 23:14 Firebolt145 wrote:Show nested quote +The company, he said, reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales and other illicit activities. I may be a little ignorant on the issue but this just feels a bit like negative propaganda to me.
No, this is true.
North Korea operates a network of fucking delicious restaurants that give their proceeds directly to the government.
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On August 08 2011 23:25 Empyrean wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:14 Firebolt145 wrote:The company, he said, reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales and other illicit activities. I may be a little ignorant on the issue but this just feels a bit like negative propaganda to me. No, this is true. North Korea operates a network of fucking delicious restaurants that give their proceeds directly to the government.
What do you eat in a North Korean restaurant? Rocks?
+ Show Spoiler +
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Lalalaland34502 Posts
Unless your 'fucking delicious restaurants' is hinting at something more sinister then I don't see where drug/arms sales come into this 
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NORTH KOREA IS KILLING ESPORTS!!! I'm sorry i had to . I'm actually a little nervous about how the media may twist this and I'm glad i'm not with my parents. I don't envy those 16 yr olds and how some parents might react when/if the media takes on this story.
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On August 08 2011 23:28 Firebolt145 wrote:Unless your 'fucking delicious restaurants' is hinting at something more sinister then I don't see where drug/arms sales come into this
You can buy knives and they serve coffee.
Zing
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On August 08 2011 23:14 Firebolt145 wrote:Show nested quote +The company, he said, reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales and other illicit activities. I may be a little ignorant on the issue but this just feels a bit like negative propaganda to me.
I kinda agree. Seems like cheap anti NK propaganda to me too.
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Wow, the gave him a part of S I X million? For his lifestyle and weapons program? Well I can only say, don't spend all of it at once, Kim!
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On August 08 2011 23:46 Monsen wrote:
Wow, the gave him a part of S I X million? For his lifestyle and weapons program? Well I can only say, don't spend all of it at once, Kim!
Almost spilled my coffee over this one lol well done sir, well done. Honestly though NK almost has to do things like this just to keep some cash coming in, they have no other way except through donations from China financing them etc. Reminds me of Cuba, except NK won't be a sinking ship one day since China will always have tons of cash.
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So each time i killed a bot i was actually fighting communism? Well hooray for me.
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hahaahahaha. This is actually quite smart.
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On August 08 2011 23:57 RaLakedaimon wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:46 Monsen wrote:
Wow, the gave him a part of S I X million? For his lifestyle and weapons program? Well I can only say, don't spend all of it at once, Kim!
Almost spilled my coffee over this one lol well done sir, well done. Honestly though NK almost has to do things like this just to keep some cash coming in, they have no other way except through donations from China financing them etc. Reminds me of Cuba, except NK won't be a sinking ship one day since China will always have tons of cash.
Cuba is a place people actually want to visit as opposed to NK ^^
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On August 08 2011 23:25 Empyrean wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:14 Firebolt145 wrote:The company, he said, reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales and other illicit activities. I may be a little ignorant on the issue but this just feels a bit like negative propaganda to me. No, this is true. North Korea operates a network of fucking delicious restaurants that give their proceeds directly to the government.
How do you know they don't lace the food with heroin and you're now addicted?
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On August 09 2011 00:23 andrewlt wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:25 Empyrean wrote:On August 08 2011 23:14 Firebolt145 wrote:The company, he said, reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales and other illicit activities. I may be a little ignorant on the issue but this just feels a bit like negative propaganda to me. No, this is true. North Korea operates a network of fucking delicious restaurants that give their proceeds directly to the government. How do you know they don't lace the food with heroin and you're now addicted?
....
oh shit...legitimate response lmfao
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On August 08 2011 23:14 Empyrean wrote:
North Korea seems to be very adept at finding sources of money that are incredibly inefficient.
I recently patronized a North Korean restaurant in Shanghai (delicious food, by the way), but even if their total sales were ALL given back to Pyongyang, there's no way that restaurant could've given more than a few million dollars back to the government.
...although I suppose opening delicious restaurants is much better than ruining thousands of peoples' lives via drugs or arms sales.
lol im getting wierd feelings from this
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Is this for real...
In that case this may justify MMO hosts getting government funding to hire more staff to actively ban botters - thus improving gameplay for the legitimate players. Hooray?
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On August 09 2011 00:02 zalz wrote:
So each time i killed a bot i was actually fighting communism? Well hooray for me.
Roeder, 85 night elf hunter.
Kingslayer and Capitalist.
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On August 09 2011 01:57 Dattish wrote:Show nested quote +On August 09 2011 01:50 Roeder wrote:On August 09 2011 00:02 zalz wrote:
So each time i killed a bot i was actually fighting communism? Well hooray for me. Roeder, 85 night elf hunter. Kingslayer and Capitalist. wait a sec.. that means TotalBiscuits first video is about communism? ._.
Yes, farming gold and building personal wealth is a communistic action. :p
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On August 09 2011 00:04 Zaphid wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:57 RaLakedaimon wrote:On August 08 2011 23:46 Monsen wrote:
Wow, the gave him a part of S I X million? For his lifestyle and weapons program? Well I can only say, don't spend all of it at once, Kim!
Almost spilled my coffee over this one lol well done sir, well done. Honestly though NK almost has to do things like this just to keep some cash coming in, they have no other way except through donations from China financing them etc. Reminds me of Cuba, except NK won't be a sinking ship one day since China will always have tons of cash. Cuba is a place people actually want to visit as opposed to NK ^^
cuba..
sinking ship...
pick one.
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not surprising you can make good money from hacking. I'm sure allot of ppl outside of NK are doing it too.
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On August 08 2011 23:12 Klamity wrote:
It'd be funny to see the media twist this. "Playing WoW supports North Korea."
![[image loading]](http://maxgoldbergonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/jackie-chan-MY-BRAIN-IS-FULL-OF-FUCK.jpg)
I can totally see it happening, too.
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you know...thats actually really cool gotta give them credit for thinking outside the box
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At the same time it's financed me too, so my family and I thank you for my house, cars and the ability to train mma full time without having to worry about getting a job.
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It's a fact. We live in the future.
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This remind me of when there were rumors that Saddam Hussein was using a big cluster of PS3 consoles to create a super computer. 
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The world's biggest freeloader at it again.
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Lalalaland34502 Posts
On August 09 2011 00:23 andrewlt wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:25 Empyrean wrote:On August 08 2011 23:14 Firebolt145 wrote:The company, he said, reports to a shadowy Communist Party agency called Office 39, which gathers foreign hard currency for Mr. Kim through drug trafficking, counterfeiting, arms sales and other illicit activities. I may be a little ignorant on the issue but this just feels a bit like negative propaganda to me. No, this is true. North Korea operates a network of fucking delicious restaurants that give their proceeds directly to the government. How do you know they don't lace the food with heroin and you're now addicted?
This is what I was hinting at
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On August 09 2011 09:03 Bibdy wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2011 23:12 Klamity wrote:
It'd be funny to see the media twist this. "Playing WoW supports North Korea." I can totally see it happening, too.
Prolly something along the lines of playing videogames is a violation of human rights. oh media, you so crazy~
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That's better than selling drug, I guess >.>
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On August 08 2011 23:12 Klamity wrote:
It'd be funny to see the media twist this. "Playing WoW supports North Korea."
hahaha.... "Blizzard entertainment supports starvation and famine"
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Kim Jong Il might just have an office in Blizzard HQ.
Would explain the RMAH in Diablo 3!
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EPT
