[비즈한국] Crimes targeting the advanced technologies of domestic companies, such as semiconductors and secondary batteries, are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Last year, 179 technology leakage cases were detected by the police, an increase of nearly 50% compared to the previous year. The number of overseas leakage cases—which are directly linked to national competitiveness—also reached an all-time high, including a case where a former employee of an SK Hynix000660 partner company was arrested in an emergency operation while attempting to leak key process data for 'High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)' semiconductors to China. While about half of the overseas leakages were concentrated in China, data shows that the proportion of leakages to other countries, such as Vietnam, increased this year.
The National Office of Investigation (NOI) under the Korean National Police Agency announced on the 19th that they apprehended 378 individuals involved in technology leakage last year, six of whom were detained. The number of apprehended suspects increased by 41.5% compared to the previous year (267), and the number of cases detected reached 179, a 45.5% increase from the 123 cases in 2024. This is the highest number since the launch of the National Office of Investigation. Eight cases involving the leakage of national core technologies are also included.
A total of 33 cases of overseas technology leakage were detected. By country, China accounted for an overwhelming 54.5%. However, this proportion decreased from the previous year (74.1% of 20 cases), while the share in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam (4 cases) and Indonesia (3 cases), expanded. Other countries included the U.S. (3 cases), Japan (1 case), Taiwan (1 case), and others (3 cases). Statistics from the past five years show that among 103 overseas technology leakage cases, 66 (64.1%) were related to China.
Semiconductors accounted for the largest portion of leaked overseas technology with 5 cases, followed by displays (4 cases), secondary batteries (3 cases), and shipbuilding (2 cases). Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were the primary victims rather than large corporations.
In particular, the police stated that they apprehended a total of 105 individuals across 33 cases as a result of a 100-day intensive crackdown on overseas technology leakage crimes from July to October last year. They explained that they conducted investigations primarily focused on key domestic high-tech fields like semiconductors and secondary batteries, leading to the detection of numerous cases.
Key examples include the arrest of a former researcher from a victimized company in October of the same year, who had saved national core secondary battery manufacturing technology data on a personal laptop before leaking it and moving to a foreign competitor. Earlier, in May, police apprehended 4 former employees of a Hynix partner company who were attempting to leak HBM key process data abroad. In September, 3 individuals, including a former representative of a victimized company, were arrested and referred to the prosecution for transmitting methanol fuel cell manufacturing blueprints to overseas investors and stealing and sending samples abroad.
According to the police, the vast majority of technology leakage offenders were insiders, including employees of the victimized companies. Of the total 179 cases, 148 (82.7%) were committed by insiders, and these incidents occurred more frequently in SMEs (155 cases, 86.6%) than in large corporations (24 cases, 13.4%). They were charged with violations such as the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (118 cases), criminal charges like breach of trust (39 cases), and violations of the Industrial Technology Protection Act (22 cases).
The police also recovered approximately 2.34 billion won in criminal proceeds by identifying and freezing the assets—prior to indictment—of suspects who had received commissions for leaking key domestic semiconductor manufacturing personnel abroad. A police official stated, "Technology leakage is a serious crime that causes irreparable damage to the national economy and security, going beyond individual corporate losses," adding, "We plan to continue applying a zero-tolerance policy and strictly crack down on technology leakage crimes."