[Initial Insight] Future Core Technology Overseas Leakage: 1 Year vs 33 Years Sentence

Korea, 1-Year Prison Sentence for Leak Suspicion to China
Supreme Court Sentencing Guidelines Also Relaxed
Strict Punishment Needed Like the US to Maintain Superiority Gap

Kwangho Lee, Head of the Industrial IT Department, Corporate Team.

The government is promoting the construction of the world's largest "semiconductor mega cluster" in the southern Gyeonggi region, and private companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have announced plans to invest 622 trillion won. The government aims to support infrastructure and road construction to induce production worth 650 trillion won and create a total of 3.46 million direct and indirect jobs. President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to ensure the success of the semiconductor mega cluster at last month's "Public Livelihood Discussion with the People." Han Dong-hoon, the emergency committee chairman of the People Power Party, also recently held a meeting with industry officials and promised full support. However, despite these efforts, some quarters have shown a lukewarm response due to concerns not only about the threat of technology leakage but also about somewhat insufficient legal measures to address it.

At the time President Yoon pledged the semiconductor mega cluster, controversy arose over a case in 2014 where Samsung Electronics' 20nm DRAM semiconductor technology was leaked to a Chinese company. Last year, a former Samsung Electronics employee was arrested on charges of leaking 18nm DRAM semiconductor process technology to China, and a vice president of an SK Hynix partner company was sentenced to one year in prison in the first trial for leaking core semiconductor technology and trade secrets to a Chinese semiconductor competitor since 2018. Over the past five years since 2018, the National Intelligence Service has uncovered a total of 104 cases of domestic industrial technology leakage. Among these, semiconductors accounted for the largest number with 30 cases, followed by displays (23 cases), electrical and electronics (11 cases), automobiles (9 cases), information and communications (6 cases), and shipbuilding (6 cases).

As global competition in advanced industries intensifies and awareness of industrial technology leakage increases, courts are pushing for tougher penalties for technology leakage crimes. The Supreme Court Sentencing Commission, at its plenary meeting last month, recommended establishing separate sentencing guidelines for "foreign infringement of national core technologies," allowing sentences of up to 18 years in prison. It also improved sentencing guidelines to allow up to 15 years in prison for overseas industrial technology leakage crimes, which had previously been classified similarly to trade secret infringement with a maximum sentence of 9 years. This sentencing guideline proposal is expected to be finalized in March after public hearings and other procedures.

However, even with strengthened sentencing guidelines, they remain relatively lenient compared to the United States, Taiwan, and others. The U.S. can impose sentences of up to 33 years and 9 months depending on the damage amount and impose fines up to 5 million dollars (approximately 6.67 billion won). Taiwan applies espionage charges with penalties up to the death sentence, and Japan, which recently strengthened penalties, can impose fines up to 1 billion yen (approximately 9.02 billion won) on corporations that leak technology. Advanced countries maintain strong penalties because their counterparts strictly punish technology leakage. These countries strive to protect future core technologies worth trillions of won invested by companies and thereby safeguard national security and interests. We too must strictly punish technology leakage and focus on technology protection. It is the minimum safeguard to maintain a super-gap.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.