Police concluded that Taihan Cable & Solution employees improperly obtained LS Cable & System's trade secrets and referred those involved to prosecutors.
The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency's security investigation unit said on the 28th that it sent a total of 13 people—including four Taihan Cable & Solution employees, including an executive identified as A, seven officials from Gaun General Architects, 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 suspected of obtaining materials related to LS Cable & System's plant design during the 2022–2023 design process for the Dangjin subsea cable plant in South Chungcheong Province and reflecting them in the design. Police believe Gaun General Architects, 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 develop extra-high-voltage subsea cables in 2007 and built Korea's first dedicated subsea cable plant in 2009. Gaun General Architects handled the design of buildings 1–4 of LS Cable & System's subsea cable plant from 2008 to 2023. It later signed a contract with Taihan Cable & Solution and took part in designing the Dangjin subsea cable plant.
Because subsea cables are long and heavy, the design methods for subsea cable plants and general wire plants differ. LS Cable & System argued on that basis that the plant's structure and the layout of its equipment are core technologies.
Taihan Cable & Solution, by contrast, has argued that the information at issue does not constitute trade secrets. Other suspects, including Gaun General Architects, also denied the allegations, saying the information is not recognized as having economic value.
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 players in Korea's cable industry, is expected to intensify. In the industry, some say that if prosecutors and the courts find Taihan Cable & Solution employees guilty, it could lead to civil lawsuits worth hundreds of billions of won.