Washington: Huawei Technologies, the Chinese company put on a US blacklist because of national security concerns, secretly helped North Korea build and maintain its commercial wireless network, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing sources and internal documents.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Credit:KCNA

The Chinese telecommunications giant partnered with a state-owned Chinese firm, Panda International Information Technology, on a number of projects in North Korea over at least eight years, the Post reported.

Sources briefed on the matter confirmed the Commerce Department has been investigating Huawei since 2016 and is reviewing whether the company violated export control rules in relation to sanctions on North Korea.

Such a move would raise questions of whether Huawei, which has used US technology in its components, violated American export controls to furnish North Korea with equipment.