‘Huawei secretly set up 3G network in North Korea’

Huawei set up a 3G network in North Korea between 2008 and 2016, according to research by The Washington Post, and helped maintain it. This was done via the Chinese company Panda International, which supplied the equipment to the dictatorship.

The American newspaper relies on whistleblowers and leaked documents that come from a former employee of Huawei. It would appear that Huawei helped set up the 3G network in North Korea. John Hudson, one of the journalists who worked on the article, gives on Twitter explanation about this.

The 3G network is said to have been set up after former North Korean head of state Kim Jong-il visited Huawei’s headquarters in China. After that visit, the provider Koryolink was founded and then Huawei is said to have supplied hardware. This was done via the Chinese company Panda International, which brought the equipment to North Korea. In 2016, Huawei severed ties with that company.

Huawei does not respond substantively to questions from The Washington Post, but says in a statement it has “no business presence” in the country. The newspaper writes that the US Department of Commerce has been investigating the ties between Huawei and North Korea since 2016. Huawei is a Chinese company, but also uses American components in its equipment.

Document on the Huawei network in North Korea. A9 is the code name with which the project was designated within Huawei.