A South Korean appeals court has thrown out the conviction of a local company charged with violating trade laws for its work on Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program, a ruling showed.
Prosecutors had accused marine technology firm SI Innotec of supplying Taiwan with submarine manufacturing equipment without South Korean government approval.
A lower court in 2022 found SI Innotec guilty and handed a company executive a suspended jail sentence. The firm has denied wrongdoing and appealed, saying that the equipment was not designed solely for military purposes and did not involve sensitive technology.
Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters
A three-judge panel at the Changwon District Court on Thursday found there was not sufficient evidence to consider the equipment as military goods that require export approval from the South Korean government, the ruling said.
“The evidence submitted by the prosecution alone is not sufficient to acknowledge that the equipment in this case is equivalent to production equipment specially designed for submarine production,” the panel said in the ruling.
Prosecutors did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SI Innotec declined to comment.
Reuters in October last year reported that South Korean authorities cited the risk of Chinese economic retaliation when they charged SI Innotec for its work on Taiwan’s indigenous submarine project.
Reuters found two other South Korean companies, Keumha Naval Technology (KHNT) and S2&K, were also on trial on charges of breaking trade laws over their work on the submarine program, and one of their executives was accused of industrial espionage.
KHNT was not immediately reachable for comment.
S2&K declined to comment.
Taiwan unveiled its first indigenous submarine named Hai Kun (海鯤), or “Narwhal,” on Sept. 28 last year in Kaohsiung.
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