British American Tobacco (BAT), the world's second largest cigarette company, has secretly been operating a factory in North Korea for the past four years, a newspaper here reported Monday.
"it's a very small entity within the BAT group and, therefore, does little to justify a mention," in the company's annual accounts, a BAT spokeswoman told The Guardian daily, while denying that this was a "secret" factory. "If we were asked about our investment there, we respond appropriately, the investor community know of it," she added.
BAT launched its business in North Korea in September 2001 after forming a joint venture company with a state-owned enterprise called the Korea Sogyong Trading Corporation, whose main interest had previously been exporting carpets, the paper reported.
BAT made an initial investment of 7.1 million dollars in the enterprise, and owns 60 percent of the company they formed, which is known as Taesong-BAT, the report continued.
It has since increased its investment, but declines to say by how much. It initially produced an inexpensive brand called Kumgansan, named after a mountain in the east of the country, and is now producing the Craven A and Viceroy brands.
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