Former Samsung employees accused of spying for China, experts call for stiffer penalties

As China's technological ambitions grow, cases of industrial espionage in South Korea have increased.
According to The Korea Times, the latest significant case was the indictment of former employees of SEMES, a subsidiary of Samsung, as well as their subcontractor associates.Image source: CristianIS/pixabay.comThe group of four is accused of handing over critical equipment to Chinese industrial espionage market participants, designed to clean silicon wafers exclusively supplied by Samsung.
The amount of \"reward\" was the equivalent of $62.8 million.
Earlier this year, a Samsung employee tried to steal technology by gaining access to the databases of Samsung Electronics, but was identified and detained by state intelligence services.According to experts, Chinese companies are willing to make every effort to eliminate the technological gap from industry leaders in critical sectors like semiconductor manufacturing.
Therefore, penalties for industrial espionage should be tightened.
The problem is complicated by the fact that different companies have different approaches to protecting the technology available to them.
In addition, it is difficult to track the activities of former employees who have already left the company.South Korean experts emphasize that in response to the mass purchase of technology by China in Taiwan introduced clear definitions of such crimes.
According to the updated law in April, criminals who contributed to the leakage of industrial technology will be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison and a fine equivalent to $3.36 million.Source image: blickpixel/pixabay.com Meanwhile, in South Korea the penalties are too mild - for trafficking in trade secrets, the punishment is up to three years in prison.
According to local intelligence agencies, from January 2017 to February 2022 there were 99 cases of leakage of industrial technology.At the same time, out of 115 episodes of violations of the Law on Protection of Trade Secrets, only 15 of the guilty were sentenced to actual imprisonment in 2021 in the court of first instance.Experts insist that the state must move to a stricter oversight of the technology market.
Otherwise, Chinese companies will simply hire former employees of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to obtain the necessary Korean secrets.