Police determined that employees of Taihan Cable & Solution unfairly obtained trade secrets of rival LS Cable & System and referred those involved to prosecutors.
The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency's Security Investigation Division said on the 28th that it referred a total of 13 people—including four employees such as Taihan Cable & Solution executive A, seven officials from Gaun General Architectural Office, and two officials from an equipment company—and three corporations to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on suspicion of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act.
Taihan Cable & Solution employees are accused of obtaining materials related to LS Cable & System's plant design during the design process for the Dangjin subsea cable plant in South Chungcheong from 2022 to 2023 and reflecting them in their design. Police concluded that Gaun General Architectural Office, which had handled the design of LS Cable & System's subsea cable plant, breached a nondisclosure agreement and provided internal materials to Taihan Cable & Solution.
LS Cable & System became the world's fourth company to successfully develop extra-high-voltage subsea cables in 2007, and in 2009 built Korea's first dedicated subsea cable plant. Gaun General Architectural Office handled the design of LS Cable & System's subsea cable plant buildings 1 through 4 from 2008 to 2023. It later signed a contract with Taihan Cable & Solution and participated in the design of the Dangjin subsea cable plant.
Because subsea cables are long and heavy, the design approach for subsea cable plants differs from that of general wire plants. Citing this, LS Cable & System argued that the plant structure and equipment layout themselves are core technologies.
Taihan Cable & Solution, for its part, has argued that the information at issue does not constitute trade secrets. Other suspects, including Gaun General Architectural Office, also reportedly denied the allegations on the grounds that no economic value is recognized.
With police sending the case to prosecutors, the battle over alleged technology leaks between LS Cable & System and Taihan Cable & Solution, the No. 1 and No. 2 in the domestic wire industry, is expected to intensify. In the industry, some also say that if prosecutors and the court find Taihan Cable & Solution employees guilty, it could lead to civil lawsuits worth hundreds of billions of won.