K-pop stars and Huawei help South Korea win global 5G race, as Chinese trade trumps US fears

Seoul got the jump over US carrier’s Verizon’s 5G introduction by providing early services to celebrity customers

Unlike other US allies, South Korea has not restricted Huawei from taking part in its next-generation networks, with the nation’s heavy dependence on China trade keeping it from caving to US pressures, say observers

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Huawei 5G technology is being used by one of South Korea’s telcos. Photo: AP

Published: 7:30am, 5 Apr 2019Updated: 9:46am, 5 Apr 2019

South Korea on Friday became the world’s first country to roll out nationwide 5G networks, with one of its three telcos using Huawei technology, at a time when the United States has accused the embattled Chinese firm’s technology of being used to spy for Beijing.

Unlike other US allies, Seoul has not restricted the firm from taking part in its next-generation networks, championed by President Moon Jae-in as a means to revive a flagging economy and drive innovation in areas ranging from smart cities to self-driving cars.

LG Uplus, the smallest of the country’s three carriers, has opted to use Huawei base stations and transmitters for its 5G network, continuing its previous partnership and ensuring compatibility with its 4G network. SK and KT, South Korea’s biggest and second-biggest carriers, respectively, have chosen Samsung Electronics, Ericsson and Nokia as their preferred suppliers of equipment, but have put those decisions down to cost and technical reasons, rather than security.

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“The desire of Moon Jae-in, who is pursuing a pro-China policy, to continue exchanges with China, should be seen as a factor in the exchanges with Huawei despite the opposition of the US,” said Kim Jong-ha, a security expert at Hannam University in Daejeon.

The US, Australia and New Zealand, members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, along with the UK and Canada, have either temporarily or permanently banned Huawei from their 5G networks over concerns about its links to Beijing. Other allied countries such as the UK and Germany have flagged the firm for special scrutiny.

Although South Korea hosts some 28,500 US troops as part of a security alliance with Washington forged after the Korean war, China is by far its biggest trading partner, receiving more than one-quarter of its exports.

Any spat with China has the potential to turn to economic retaliation that South Korea cannot afford.

Cho Mu-hyun, tech industry commentator

Cho Mu-hyun, a tech industry analyst in Seoul, said that South Korea was keen to avoid the risk of economic punishment by Beijing should it exclude Huawei.