Kim Jong-Il’s Latest Cash Source is MMO Gold Farming

Kim Jong-Il’s Latest Cash Source is MMO Gold Farming


We’re at the point where any story coming out of North Korea isn’t too ridiculous to be true, so when it’s being reported that a cash strapped Kim Jong-Il is turning to MMO gold farming to raise funds? I’ll believe it.

The report comes from the New York Times which says that the despot is working with Chinese and South Korean agents to infilitrate popular Asian MMOs like Lineage and Dungeon Fighter, and farm for in-game points to be sold on the black market for real-life cash.

“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.

South Korean and American officials say they believe the slush fund is worth billions, and that Mr. Kim uses it to help finance his nuclear weapons programs and to smuggle Rolex watches and other luxury goods, which he doles out to buy the allegiance of the party and the military elite. Meanwhile, the bulk of his people suffer privation and myriad hardships.”

The scheme has said to have raised $6M so far, with 55% of that going to the hackers and Pyongyang. Such “gold farming” schemes are commonplace in China, where the business is actually a booming industry with even prisoners conscripted on occasion to hunt for gold and items in-game. But to think that the North Korean government would attempt to use this as a viable cash source is rather insane.

As for the reasons why however? The police report indicates that with North Korean stranded with a huge host of international sanctions against it, the government looks to any means it can for cash, and that apparently, includes playing video games.



http://blogs.forbes.com/insertcoin/2011/08/08/kim-jong-ils-latest-cash-source-is-mmo-gold-farming/

 

There's no shock at that news. MMO gold selling is a hot business everywhere, and, unlike much bigger games like WOW, there is far less likely a chance at being "interrupted" doing it with the lesser games.

 

Not that surprising, even the $6M.