North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is reportedly using a team of hackers to infiltrate South Korean MMORPGs to gain in-game money in order to sell it for real cash.
According to the New York Times, South Korean police said North Korea had a large squad of programmers and hackers from top science universities in the country who made software designed to breach the servers for games such as Dungeon and Fighter and Lineage.
It allowed for 24/7 playtime by dozens of unmanned computers, which gathered in-game gold. This was then exchanged for real cash on websites purchased by people looking to gather equipment for their in-game characters. The software was also sold on to other people.
Organisers earned US$6m from this practice, and the hackers got 55pc of the money in return.
The group may be part of the Korea Neungnado General Trading Company, which raises foreign currency for Kim Jong-il through drug trafficking, counterfeiting and arms sales. This money helps fund Kim Jong-Il’s nuclear weapons programmes, as well as luxury products such as Rolex watches for his supporters, in spite of his nation’s struggling economy.
North Korea denies this, claiming South Korea is creating a conspiracy.
Recently, it was discovered that prisoners in many Chinese labour camps were forced to play MMORPGs for 12-hour shifts to gain in-game money to sell for real cash.
Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
