USA Says "Respecting Korea's Decision to Use Huawei but Concerned About Trust Issues"

Keith Krach, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, is delivering a welcome speech at the "3rd Korea-U.S. Public-Private Joint Economic Forum" held on the 7th at the Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Asia Economy

[Asia Economy Reporter Nah Ana] As the United States once again urges the exclusion of Chinese 5th generation mobile communication network (5G) equipment and Chinese IT companies, it emphasized that while it respects the South Korean government's decision regarding the 'Clean Network' initiative, it is a matter of trust.

Keith Krach, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, repeatedly urged allies to participate in the 'Clean Network' during a phone press conference held on the 29th (local time) on the achievements of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum, according to Voice of America (VOA) on the 30th (local time).

The 'Clean Network' is a U.S. policy to exclude Chinese IT companies and products such as Huawei, ZTE, and Alibaba from businesses including telecommunications carriers, applications, cloud services, and cables.

The U.S. State Department mentioned domestic telecom companies SK and KT as 'Clean Telcos' that do not use Huawei networks. However, LG Uplus, which uses Huawei networks, was not mentioned.

So far, the U.S. has urged LG Uplus to stop using Huawei products. However, the South Korean government has explained to the U.S. side that government intervention is difficult when private companies such as LG Uplus use Chinese products.

Deputy Secretary Krach respected the South Korean government's view that it cannot intervene in the individual policies of private companies but indirectly criticized by saying, "(Excluding Huawei equipment) is a matter of trust."

He said, "More and more countries and companies are raising questions about whom to entrust personal information, sensitive customer data, and valuable intellectual property," adding, "The answer to such questions is clearly not companies like Huawei, which are the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party."

Finally, he stated, "The United States will stand with its allies against China's 'bullying'."

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