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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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17077 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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Lalalaland34505 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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17077 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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Lalalaland34505 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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EPT
