British American Tobacco has been secretly operating a factory in North Korea for the past four years despite Britain's position that it will not officially support investment in the country due to Pyongyang's nuclear aspirations, a British newspaper reported yesterday.

According to The Guardian, BAT, the world's second-largest cigarette manufacture, has been quietly operating the plant in the communist country's capital city.

The British company launched its joint venture with North Korea in September 2001 after signing a deal with a state-owned firm, Korea Sogyong Trading Corporation. The British firm made an initial investment of $7.1 million and owns 60 percent of the joint venture, Taesong-BAT, the report said...

...BAT said all cigarettes produced in the North are for consumption there...

...The report quoted an anti-smoking group, Ash, as criticizing the operation in a country with human rights violation records.
"It seems that there is no regime so awful and no country so repressive that BAT does not want to do business there," Ash was quoted as saying.

BAT responded to the criticism by saying that "it is not for us to interfere with the way governments run countries."