South Korea yesterday said it would toughen sentencing for stealing industrial secrets, amid concerns that its regulations are not strong enough to deter attempts to funnel technologies from companies such as Samsung Electronics Co.
South Korea has been cracking down on technology leaks over the past few months, as the country seeks to maintain its dwindling lead in memory chips and displays against competitors.
The South Korean Sentencing Commission, overseen by the Supreme Court of Korea, decided this month to toughen punishments and lengthen jail times for leaking South Korean technology, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Details on the new sentencing guidelines are expected early next year.
The ministry did not say which country it is targeting, but analysts said that China is the suspected destination of the bulk of South Korean technology leaks.
Although South Korea’s penalties for technology leaks are similar to those in other countries, including jail terms of five years or more for leaking technology with a “significant impact on national and economic security,” in practice sentencing falls short due to hard-to-meet requirements, the ministry said.
Current rules require prosecutors to prove a suspect’s intent to leak secrets for an action to be punished as a core technology leak, leading to acquittal in 30 percent and suspended sentences in 54 percent of such cases, it said.
Rules to block technology leaks that had not been regulated, such as leaks after a foreign private equity fund buys out a South Korean company, would also be included in a revised draft law to be submitted to parliament, the ministry said.
South Korean police in June said that they had arrested 77 people in 35 cases of suspected industrial espionage in a nationwide investigation over the preceding four months.
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