Witness Examination Held Behind Closed Doors
to Prevent Disclosure of Key Trade Secrets
The witness examination in the trial of Choi Jinseok, former executive director at Samsung Electronics, who is accused of leaking Samsung Electronics' core semiconductor technology to China, was held behind closed doors. This measure was taken to prevent the disclosure of Samsung Electronics' key trade secrets, which are considered the victim's proprietary information, during the witness examination process.
The 24th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Lee Youngseon, held the 14th hearing on September 1 to review charges of violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act against former executive director Choi, former senior researcher Oh at Samsung Electronics, and the Chengdu Gaozhen corporation.
Exterior view of Samsung Electronics Giheung Semiconductor Plant in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Yonhap News
According to prosecutors, Choi, a semiconductor expert who previously served as an executive at Samsung Electronics and vice president at SK Hynix, established the semiconductor company Chengdu Gaozhen in 2020 with an investment of 400 billion won from a Chinese local government. Many domestic semiconductor specialists also moved to Chengdu Gaozhen. Choi and others are accused of stealing Samsung Electronics' proprietary technology, which cost more than 4 trillion won to develop, and using it for semiconductor development at Chengdu Gaozhen. Prosecutors believe that, as a result of this technology leak, Chengdu Gaozhen was able to shorten the development period, which typically takes four to five years, to just one year and six months. In return, Choi allegedly received 86 billion won worth of shares in Chengdu Gaozhen and earned 1.8 billion won as compensation.
Choi is also facing a separate trial at the Suwon District Court (case number 2023GODAN3183) for another technology leak incident. He is accused of stealing design blueprints and cleanroom (BED) data from a semiconductor plant in an attempt to construct a 'replica factory' in Xi'an, China, identical to Samsung Electronics' semiconductor facility. BED refers to optimal production environment data that critically affects semiconductor yield and is classified as a national core technology.
Lee Sangwoo, Law Times Reporter
※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
