South Korea promises tougher measures to prevent technology leaks abroad

The government will set up a “big data” system to prevent technology leaks at the patent agency and introduce new regulations to ensure stricter punishment for perpetrators, Choi said. He did not provide details about the harsher penalties under the new rules.

According to the National Intelligence Service, there have been 97 attempts to transfer trade secrets to a foreign country in the past five years, 40 of them in the semiconductor industry.

If successful, they would have caused the country a total loss of around 23 trillion won ($16.85 billion), the spy agency estimates.

Last month, a South Korean executive accused of stealing semiconductor information developed by Samsung Electronics was arrested again on new charges related to the theft of chip processing technology.

South Korea has designated a total of 12 industries as “national strategic technologies” in recent years with targeted financial support and protection to respond to intensifying global competition and supply chain fragmentation.

These include industries such as semiconductors, rechargeable batteries, aerospace and artificial intelligence, among others.

($1 = 1,364.9300 won)

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Ed Davies)