Bodycams Claimed to Be Made in Taiwan... "Was Police Evidence Sent to China?"

Police have launched an investigation following allegations that bodycams introduced by the police last year are actually of Chinese manufacture, violating the original bidding qualifications.

Last year, the police received a delivery of some 14,000 bodycams from a consortium of large and mid-sized enterprises, which were then distributed to frontline police officers.

Bodycams are communication devices that police officers attach to their bodies to record on-site situations and transmit them to the internal police system.

At the time of the bidding, the police had notified in advance that Chinese-made terminals would be excluded from the bidding process.

This was an effort to block the possibility of footage and other evidence collected by police bodycams leaking to China due to vulnerable security.

Company A, which was in charge of procuring the bodycam terminals, reportedly told the police that "there are no companies in South Korea capable of mass-producing bodycams" and that it would import them by having them produced through original equipment manufacturing (OEM) at a factory in Taiwan.

Subsequently, Company A supplied some 14,000 bodycams claimed to be manufactured at the Taiwanese factory, which have been distributed to traffic police and local police boxes and sub-stations nationwide since late November of last year.

However, allegations have been raised that the bodycams supplied by Company A are similar in function, appearance, and other aspects to a specific product from Company H, the top company in China's wireless equipment market share.

The two products are known to match not only in their external appearance, such as the location and shape of buttons, but also in major specifications including 4K resolution and night vision capabilities. The police reportedly received this tip-off from a company that was eliminated in the bodycam business selection process.

China's Company H was previously indicted after it was discovered that between 2006 and 2020, it hired some employees of the U.S. telecommunications company Motorola to steal its radio technology and leak confidential information.

The Anti-Terrorism and Foreign Intelligence Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency is reportedly investigating Company A on charges of fraud and obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means.

The investigation aims to determine whether the products supplied by Company A were effectively Chinese Company H products disguised as being made in Taiwan.

Regarding the related allegations, Company A reportedly denied the suspicion of supplying Chinese-made products, stating, "All of the bodycams supplied are Taiwanese-made OEM products."

(Reported by Jung Da-eun, Video by Seo Byeong-wook, Design by Yang Hye-min, Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.