A former Director General of Samsung Electronics, who has been arrested and charged with leaking semiconductor technology, which is classified as a national core technology, to Chinese corporations, will have his case reviewed by the Supreme Court following an appeal by prosecutors. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison in the first trial, but his sentence was reduced to 6 years in the second trial.
On 29th of last month, prosecutors submitted an appeal to the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 8, which served as the second court for this case. Earlier, on 23rd of last month, the second trial court sentenced Mr. Kim to 6 years in prison and a fine of 200 million won for violations of the Industrial Technology Protection Act.
This is 1 year less than the 7-year sentence imposed on Mr. Kim in the first trial back in February. The 7-year sentence was the heaviest sentence for technology leak crimes given in the first trial. The first trial court stated that it is "a serious crime that seriously hinders healthy competition, wastes the significant time and expenses of the victimized companies, and could actually have a tremendous adverse effect on Korea's national industrial competitiveness." Both Mr. Kim and the prosecution appealed the first trial's decision. The prosecution had sought a 20-year sentence for Mr. Kim.
The second trial court noted that "the significant harm to the victimized companies is unavoidable and the serious crime committed has adverse effects on the country; therefore, a stringent punishment corresponding to the offense is necessary, as he led the crime with no possibility of recovering damages." However, the court also mentioned mitigating circumstances, stating, "Mr. Kim has no criminal record, and after being dismissed from his company, it appears he was compelled to seek employment with Chinese corporations as it became difficult to re-employ domestically. Considering that he was not involved in the leak of Samsung Electronics' core technology, a lighter sentence than the original ruling is given."
Mr. Kim was indicted in January of last year for illegal leaking of the 18-nanometer DRAM semiconductor process information of Samsung Electronics to be used in the product development of the Chinese semiconductor manufacturer Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT). CXMT is the only DRAM producer in China.
Prosecutors believe that Mr. Kim leaked core semiconductor information when he transferred to CXMT in 2016, received a bribe worth hundreds of millions of won, and was offered a high salary, taking away more than 20 employees from Samsung Electronics and its affiliates. Prosecutors have determined that CXMT utilized the information illegally acquired through Mr. Kim to surpass technological barriers.