编注：本观点仅代表纽约时报
时至今日我们已经发现，任何关于朝鲜的消息，再荒诞都有可能是真的，所以当新闻报道说手头很紧的金正日正通过在大型多玩家在线游戏(MMO)中“打金”来筹集资金时，不管你们信不信，反正我信了!
这篇来自《纽约时报》的报道说，这位独裁者正与中国和韩国的间谍合作，渗入亚洲几个广受欢迎的MMO游戏如《天堂》(Lineage)和《地下城与勇士》(Dungeon Fighter)中，在游戏中打金，然后在黑市上兑换成现金。
以下是该报道的一段节选：
“郑先生(Chung,音译)说所有的黑客都是朝鲜名牌科技大学的毕业生，被派遣自两个地方：国营的朝鲜计算机中心(Korea Computer Center)(位于平壤)以及朝鲜绫罗岛贸易总公司(Korea Neungnado General Trading Company)。他表示，该公司报告给一个情况不明的叫做‘39号办公室’劳动党机构，该机构通过贩毒、制造伪钞、贩卖军火等非法活动为金正日筹集外国 硬通货。
韩国和美国官员表示，他们认为这笔非法资金价值数十亿，而且金正日利用它资助其核武器开发项目，并走私劳力士手表等奢侈品，少量发放，以收买党内及军队精英的忠心。而与此同时，朝鲜大部分人民则生活在水深火热之中。
这项打金计划据说至今已经筹集了600万美元，其中55%落入黑客和金正日手中。这样的“打金”行为在中国司空见惯，该产业实际上欣欣向荣，连囚犯都偶尔被招募起来，猎取游戏中的金钱或物品。但想想朝鲜政府居然会将其作为一个切实可行的现金来源，真是有些不可思议。
至于原因，警方报告显示由于朝鲜被一大批的国际制裁所孤立，朝鲜政府正寻求其所能找到的一切方式筹集现金，而其中很明显就包括了电脑游戏。
原文：
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 hisnuclear 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.
