South Korea's No. 2 mobile carrier KT Corp. has suspended selling China-based Xiaomi Inc.'s smartphone, industry sources said Wednesday, only two days after it started sales.

KT started sales of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 through online shopping site Interpark Corp. on Monday The sources said the move came due to "legal matters related to sales."

It marked the first time for a South Korean mobile carrier to distribute Xiaomi's smartphones.

Amid the rising popularity of budget smartphones in the country, South Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier LG Uplus Corp. also kicked off sales of Huawei's Y6 smartphone here.

LG Uplus said earlier it has sold 10,000 units of the model from the Chinese company in the two weeks after its release.

Chinese firms have emerged as major rivals to South Korean tech companies, although the local market is still largely dominated by Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. (Yonhap)