Ha Tae-kyung "They said they would 'scientifically' enhance North Korea surveillance... but it's a Chinese 'fake camera'" [2020 National Audit]

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Although the Ministry of National Defense announced that it would take charge of coastal surveillance based on excellent scientific monitoring equipment, suspicions have been raised that some of these include counterfeit cameras made in China.

According to materials submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, on the 7th, the Army Headquarters Intelligence Operations Staff signed a delivery contract worth 21.8 billion KRW on March 27 with domestic company S for the "Sea and River Coastal Surveillance Scientific Construction Project."

According to the contract, company S is scheduled to install 215 surveillance cameras, which it manufactures directly, in the front-line areas including parts of Gyeonggi Province by the end of this year.

However, contrary to the explanation that company S directly manufactures and supplies the surveillance equipment to the military, the product introduction materials submitted by company S to the military were found to be a collage of photos of products from Chinese camera manufacturer Z. It was even revealed that the design drawings of the cameras, which they claimed to produce themselves, were copied as is.

Source= Office of Ha Tae-kyung, People Power Party.

Photos taken inside Z's factory located in Tianjin (天津) show the production of the same model of camera that the military was supposed to receive. Representative Ha raised suspicions that domestic company S, which apparently lacks camera manufacturing capabilities, imported cameras cheaply from Z and attempted to disguise them as domestically produced to supply to the army.

Such circumstances were also revealed in the mandatory procedures required to sell surveillance cameras domestically. Regarding the "Broadcasting and Communication Equipment Conformity Assessment," which must be obtained to distribute surveillance cameras in Korea, company S received the assessment on July 8, the same day Z also underwent the assessment. Representative Ha pointed out, "It is suspected that the conformity assessment was obtained to fabricate the necessary documents for import customs clearance, and then the country of manufacture was changed to disguise the products as domestic."

Representative Ha stated, "If it is true that so-called 'counterfeit domestic cameras' made in China were sold as domestic products and entered as a core system of our North Korea surveillance network, this would be a matter of great public outrage," adding, "Investigation agencies must step in to determine whether an organized military supply corruption group is involved."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.