This undated photo shows the National Office of Investigation building (R) in Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Police will establish a new task force on industrial espionage to better counter a growing leakage of sensitive technologies, officers said Monday.
The counter-espionage economic security investigation team, which will combine an existing relevant task force and a foreign affairs team, will not only probe technology leaks but detect and prevent such cases, according to them.
Police also decided to designate more officers to take charge of looking into industrial spying cases at police stations nationwide.
The plan came as the number of overseas technology leak cases detected by police hit an all-time high in about 10 years in 2023.
After an intensive crackdown on economic security-related crimes from February through October, police transferred 146 cases to the prosecution for indictment.
Of the total, 21 cases were about overseas leakages of such key technologies as those in the display, semiconductor and robot industries, sharply up from last year’s 12 cases and the largest in a decade.
“The new team will deal with both information on and investigations into industrial espionage and terrorism so as to boost our capabilities to crack down on such incidents,” a police officer said.
(Yonhap)
