Unified Response to 'Technology Leakage'... Launch of the Pan-Government Joint Response Team

10 Government Ministries Including NIS, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Trade Participate
Presidential Office: "No Barriers to International Cooperation and Law Enforcement"

The 'Intergovernmental Joint Response Team for Technology Leakage,' composed of 10 government ministries and intelligence and investigative agencies, has been launched to protect industrial technology.

The Presidential Office announced on the 8th that Wang Yoon-jong, Secretary for Economic Security, and Lee Yang-sang, Secretary for International Legal Affairs, jointly presided over the joint response team meeting. The response team includes 10 related government ministries and agencies: the National Intelligence Service, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Supreme Prosecutors' Office, National Police Agency, Korean Intellectual Property Office, and Korea Customs Service.

Yongsan Presidential Office Exterior [Image Source=Yonhap News]

The response team is organized into three main divisions: ▲ international cooperation ▲ law enforcement ▲ policy and system. The international cooperation division, overseen by the Ministry of Justice, promotes international collaboration such as forming a trilateral technology protection consultative body and inter-country information sharing, as agreed at the Korea-US-Japan summit in August. The law enforcement division, led by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, focuses on rapid information sharing and investigations through a permanent hotline among agencies responsible for investigating technology leakage. Additionally, the policy and system division, managed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, plans to improve technology protection-related systems and develop policies by gathering opinions from law enforcement sites, companies, research institutions, and related ministries.

The Presidential Office explained, "Previously, investigations were conducted separately by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, police, customs, and patent office depending on the type of crime or detection route," and added, "Intelligence obtained by intelligence agencies was not sufficiently shared with investigative agencies, resulting in a limitation where intergovernmental response capabilities were dispersed." It further stated, "The response team will integrate functions such as international cooperation, law enforcement, and policy without compartmentalization to identify problems and institutionalize best practices."

Meanwhile, the response team plans to establish a joint response system cooperating with the US intergovernmental technology protection cooperation body, the 'Defense Technology Security Force (DTSF).' The DTSF includes the US Department of Justice, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, and FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation).

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