The Presidential Office is pushing forward a plan to form a 'Government Joint Investigation Team' to investigate incidents of leakage of national core technologies.
On the 6th, the Presidential Office announced that it held a second half full meeting of the 'Government-wide Joint Response Team for Technology Leakage' at the National Intelligence Service, chaired by Wang Yoon-jong, the 3rd Deputy Director of the National Security Office, to discuss this plan.
At the meeting, a plan was discussed to form a 'Government Joint Investigation Team' to fast-track investigations when incidents of leakage of nationally important core technologies occur.
The joint investigation team, combining the expertise of each agency, aims to effectively respond to technology leakage crimes. The goal is to eliminate blind spots in inter-agency activities, promptly initiate investigations, respond thoroughly, and rigorously recover criminal proceeds. The Presidential Office stated, "This is expected to prevent damages worth approximately 5.4 trillion won annually."
Additionally, the meeting shared the achievements of operating the 'Korea-US-Japan Innovative Technology Protection Network,' established through a high-level meeting of Korea, the US, and Japan officials in Washington DC last April, and discussed future plans.
This network has held frequent remote working-level meetings to share information on investigations related to technology leakage and customs, and to discuss policy cooperation measures. Early next year, a face-to-face meeting among the three countries' officials will be held in Japan to expand cooperation and explore progressive operational plans.
The joint response team also shared the results of a comparative legal study between Korea and the US aimed at advancing technology protection legislation.
The Presidential Office explained, "We have been seeking ways to revise and supplement our system by referencing the US technology protection system. The outcome of this study presented differences and reference measures between the two countries regarding damage calculation methods in technology leakage crime rulings, targets of punishment, and sentencing."
Urgent matters will be promptly addressed through amendments to the Industrial Technology Protection Act and other measures.
Other topics discussed included security measures related to the expansion of research and development (R&D) cooperation with foreign countries and guidelines for cloud usage by institutions holding national core technologies.
The Presidential Office emphasized, "We will continue our activities with the determination to protect our technologies without allowing any loopholes against attempts to leak core technologies, which are intensifying due to the technology hegemony competition."
The meeting was attended by a total of 14 ministries and intelligence and investigative agencies related to industrial technology leakage prevention, including the National Intelligence Service, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and National Police Agency.
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