On Sunday, September 13, South Korea will officially expand the scope of espionage crimes, extending the laws which previously mainly targeted North Korea’s activities to include other foreign countries or equivalent organizations. This legislative revision comes at a time when Chinese companies are rapidly catching up in the semiconductor industry, with multiple cases involving technology leaks to China being exposed. Seoul is elevating the protection of core technologies to the level of national security.
According to Bloomberg, about half of the sensitive technology leak cases cracked by South Korean police last year involved China. South Korean semiconductor giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are facing fierce competition from Chinese companies like CXMT and YMTC.
Last month, South Korean Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources Kim Jung-kwan mentioned China’s investments in the semiconductor field, saying: “The speed of China is beyond imagination. That’s why I feel an extremely strong sense of urgency.”
The South Korean National Assembly passed amendments to the Criminal Law on February 26 this year, which will take effect on September 13. This marks the first significant expansion of its scope since the enactment of the relevant provisions in 1953, 73 years ago.
Previously, South Korea’s espionage laws primarily targeted espionage activities for the “enemy country,” with courts interpreting the “enemy country” as North Korea in practice. This meant that even if individuals handed over sensitive technologies like semiconductors to Chinese companies or other foreign entities, prosecutors often had to resort to other laws such as industrial technology protection for prosecution.
Under the amended law, spying crimes could cover activities such as probing, collecting, disclosing, delivering, or mediating the transfer of national secrets to “foreign countries or equivalent organizations.” However, the new charges still require that the relevant activities involve “instructions or inducements” from foreign entities to distinguish espionage activities from regular commercial technology transfers.
In recent years, South Korea has seen a series of industrial technology leak cases.
According to data from the Korea Economic Research Institute and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources, from 2020 to the first half of 2025, a total of 110 cases of overseas industrial technology leaks occurred, with 33 cases involving “national core technologies,” estimated to cause losses of 23.27 trillion South Korean won.
Semiconductors are one of the most critical areas for South Korea. In December last year, South Korean prosecutors indicted 10 individuals on charges of leaking Samsung Electronics’ DRAM manufacturing technology to China’s CXMT.
As reported by Reuters, a former Samsung researcher copied hundreds of DRAM manufacturing processes by hand, including equipment specifications, process sequences, and yield optimization, when preparing to leave and join CXMT. Prosecutors stated that these notes were subsequently used to develop related processes at CXMT.
Prosecutors also claimed that CXMT further accelerated its research and development by obtaining other DRAM technologies from SK Hynix through suppliers.
Samsung, SK Hynix, and CXMT all declined to comment on the cases.
Prosecutors mentioned that Samsung had invested 1.6 trillion won in developing relevant DRAM processes, but CXMT achieved 10-nanometer-class DRAM production in 2023 after adjusting and verifying leaked data. Prosecutors believe that this also laid the groundwork for CXMT to further develop High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). HBM is currently an essential component for artificial intelligence operations.
Citing data from Counterpoint Research, Bloomberg stated that by the second quarter of 2026, CXMT’s share in the global DRAM market had reached 10%, with Samsung and SK Hynix at approximately 38% and 25%, respectively.
While the amendments close certain legal loopholes, South Korea’s defense industry is also keeping an eye on the boundaries of the new law’s application.
Industry insiders point out that concepts like “national secrets” and “equivalent organizations” need further clarification to prevent normal exports, joint developments, or technical support from getting entangled in legal disputes.
Jang Won-joon, Associate Professor of Defense Industry at Jeonbuk University (phonetic translation), stated: “Companies should not assume that all technical data can be provided just because an export contract has been signed.” He believes that the relevant risks need to be managed through government approval and internal controls based on different technologies.
With the new law officially in effect, South Korea will have a broader legal toolset to handle cases of leaking national secrets to foreign countries. However, defining national secrets and proving activities instigated or directed by foreign entities will remain a crucial challenge in practical law enforcement.