By Kim Yoo-chul
The government may intervene with LG Uplus’ purchase of equipment from Huawei Technologies.
“We know the U.S. and U.K. governments prohibit the purchase of Huawei equipment,” said an official at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) Monday.
“We may intervene with the deal,” the official said without elaborating.
The ministry has been operating a unit composed of 17 experts from private sectors to draw up measures for enhanced security of Huawei-provided equipment.
The U.S. and Great Britain ban the use of the Huawei equipment due to potential breaches of security. Huawei reportedly recently criticized the U.K government’s ban on its videoconferencing equipment, as “misleading” and based on “inaccurate” information.
The report regarding the U.K. government came a month after Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei revealed the firm has exited the U.S. network equipment market, following years of accusations the firm is supplying sensitive information to the Chinese government.
Huawei Technologies Korea said that its videoconferencing kit is safe because it strictly complies with relevant global security standards, denying its telecom-related equipment is vulnerable to hacking and other types of risks.
“We are a private company. We are sharing a common goal of strengthening cyber security with our clients. The report ... wasn’t true,” Huawei said in a statement.
Earlier this month, lawmakers in the United States had pressurized LG Uplus to drop a business deal with Huawei, claiming that the tie to the Chinese company might threaten U.S. troops stationed in Korea.
An LG Uplus spokesman said its agreement with Huawei is still safe and will proceed as planned. But officials at Uplus told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity that the firm is preparing for a worst-case scenario.
“We can best the bigger KT to become the nation’s No. 2 service-provider for the fourth-generation (4G)-based long-term evolution (LTE) networks. For that to happen, we need Huawei to provide LTE telecom equipment at lower prices,” an LG official said.
The official said a withdrawal of the deal with Huawei would cost Uplus a huge amount.
A breach of the contract could cause trade disputes between Korea and China. The original LTE contract between the two was made in October 2013.
Huawei regards Korea and Europe as its core markets.
Huawei hopes to make create a good track record by supplying its telecom equipment to Uplus. Korea is the world’s most-advanced in terms of the literacy of LTE networks.