The Korean Intellectual Property Office's Special Judicial Police (Technical Police) and the Patent Crimes Investigation Division of the Daejeon District Prosecutor’s Office announced on the 28th that they have indicted a total of three individuals, including former Head of Team A (48, in custody) of a domestic secondary battery conglomerate, for allegedly stealing materials related to secondary batteries that include national advanced strategic technologies without permission, in violation of the Special Measures Law on Strengthening and Protecting the Competitiveness of National Advanced Strategic Industries and the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act.
According to the Technical Police, A is suspected of illegally exporting materials from the victimized company by accessing the company's virtual PC using a work laptop from home, from November last year until the time of resignation in February this year, after deciding to resign following his dismissal as Head of Team in November. During this time, he met with representative of an overseas company through agent C (35, not in custody) and apparently considered changing jobs; he is also accused of additionally illegally obtaining materials through B (45, not in custody, resigned in December 2024) while working at the victimized company around October last year.
The materials that A is accused of stealing included cell design information for major secondary battery items currently under contracts valued in the tens of trillions of won, long-term comprehensive strategic materials related to product and technology development, manufacturing and cost roadmaps, and information on core material developments such as anode materials. The total number of photo files reached over 3,000, some of which pertained to national advanced strategic technologies and national core technologies.
The Korean Intellectual Property Office explained that if the materials stolen by A contained crucial information such as national advanced strategic technologies and were leaked overseas, considering the contract size in the tens of trillions of won for the victimized company, enormous research and development expenses, and the impact on Korea's secondary battery industry ecosystem, the scale of the damage would be almost impossible to predict.
The Technical Police initiated an investigation immediately after receiving intelligence about A's alleged offenses from the National Intelligence Service's Industrial Confidentiality Protection Center in November last year, and secured over 3,000 photo files and related evidence through an execution of a search warrant at A's residence in December last year. Subsequent evidence analysis revealed that A met with employee B from the victimized company to additionally illegally obtain materials and contacted an overseas company through C, leading to B and C being charged additionally, along with the execution of a search warrant against B and an investigation.
Throughout the entire investigation process, the Technical Police cooperated with the Patent Crimes Investigation Division of the Daejeon District Prosecutor’s Office, and during this collaboration, they confirmed with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy that the materials A had stolen from the victimized company included national advanced strategic technologies and transitioned to custody investigation for A.
In most technology leak cases, victimized companies often tend to downplay the incidents for fear of damaging their corporate image, but for the victimized company in this case, the basic principle has been to respond by requesting an investigation into the security breach incident, and their proactive cooperation enabled the investigation to conclude quickly.
Korean Intellectual Property Office Commissioner Kim Wan-ki emphasized, 'Technology leaks can pose a serious threat to national security and the economy,' stating that 'the Korean Intellectual Property Office’s Technical Police has been proactive in preventing technology leaks based on technical expertise and will continue to strive to protect the advanced technologies that are the future food sources by actively cooperating with related organizations.'