Of 33 overseas technology leakage cases in 2025, 54.5% (18 cases) were counted as flowing to China.
According to the Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) on the 19th, a total of 179 technology leakage cases were uncovered last year. Of these, 146 cases involved domestic leakage and 33 involved overseas leakage. By destination, China accounted for the most, followed by Vietnam at 12.1% (4 cases) and Indonesia and the United States at 9.1% (3 cases) each.
By type of technology leaked overseas, semiconductors accounted for the largest share at 15.2% (5 cases), followed by ▲ displays at 12.1% (4 cases), ▲ secondary batteries at 9.1% (3 cases), and ▲ shipbuilding at 6% (2 cases).
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in May last year urgently arrested a person surnamed Kim at Incheon International Airport while attempting to smuggle semiconductor packaging technology related to High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) to China. HBM is cited as a core chip for artificial intelligence (AI).
However, China's share among overseas technology leakage destinations rose from 50% in 2022 to 68.1% in 2023 and 74.1% in 2024, then fell to 54.5% last year. The Korean National Police Agency said it was due to increases in other countries such as Vietnam.
Victimized corporations were nearly seven times more likely to be small and midsize enterprises (155 cases, 86.8%) than large corporations (24 cases, 13.4%). It is interpreted that they became targets because their treatment is relatively poor and their security environments are vulnerable.
Police apprehended 378 offenders in technology leakage cases last year and detained 6 of them. The amount of criminal revenue recovered was 2.34 billion won.
A police official said, "Technology leakage is a serious crime that inflicts irreparable damage on the national economic security beyond harm to individual corporations," adding, "We will apply a zero-tolerance principle."