Spying for anyone, not only the North
An amended criminal law that makes spying for any foreign country a crime took effect in South Korea on 13 September, as the country moves to protect semiconductor, AI and other strategic technologies, Reuters reported.
Until now, espionage charges in South Korea generally applied only to acts that benefited North Korea. In cases involving other governments or foreign companies, prosecutors had to rely on industrial technology or trade-secret laws instead, which critics had long said were ill-suited to the task.
The revised Criminal Act creates a new offence of espionage for “a foreign country or equivalent organisation”, carrying a minimum prison sentence of three years. The existing provisions on espionage for an “enemy state” remain in place.
Six months from vote to force
The National Assembly passed the amendment on 26 February. It was promulgated on 12 March and came into force after a six-month grace period.
The National Intelligence Service said the change would “strengthen South Korea’s ability to prevent leaks of strategic technologies such as semiconductors, displays, batteries and AI”.
That list is a map of the country’s export economy. It also places AI alongside chips as technology the state treats as a national security asset rather than only as commercial property.
The kind of case it is meant for
The law targets cases South Korea has so far had to prosecute under other statutes. Reuters cited the indictment of five former Samsung Electronics employees accused of transferring key DRAM memory chip technology to CXMT, a Chinese memory maker. Neither company commented at the time, according to the report.
Memory is where the stakes for AI are highest for South Korea. Samsung and SK Hynix are among the main producers of the high-bandwidth memory that is packaged alongside AI accelerators, and the manufacturing know-how behind it is exactly the kind of technology the intelligence service says it wants to protect.
Beijing’s response
China’s foreign ministry answered with a general call for fair treatment. Spokesperson Mao Ning said China expects that “all countries should safeguard the normal investment and business activities of enterprises and provide a fair, just, and non-discriminatory business environment”, Reuters reported.
The law itself does not name any country. The case Reuters cited involved a Chinese company.
What to watch
The first test will be whether prosecutors bring a technology leak case under the new espionage offence rather than the trade-secret laws they have relied on, and whether courts apply the three-year minimum. Criminal laws do not apply retroactively, so conduct before 13 September remains subject to the old framework, and the first cases under the new offence may take time to reach court.
