▲ National Office of Investigation, Korean National Police Agency
Police are bolstering dedicated personnel and expanding their organizational structure to crack down on illegal overseas leaks of crucial national advanced technologies, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), secondary batteries, and the defense industry.
The Security Investigation Bureau under the National Office of Investigation announced today (Aug. 20) that it will reallocate internal resources to add 79 personnel dedicated to countering technology leak crimes, while expanding specialized investigation units within the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency.
This decision stems from the assessment that, amid fierce global competition to secure advanced technologies, technology leak crimes have escalated beyond harming individual companies, eroding national industrial competitiveness and threatening economic security.
Last year, police uncovered 179 technology leak crimes—including 8 leaks of core national technologies—and apprehended 378 suspects.
Compared to 2024, when there were 123 cases and 267 suspects, the number of uncovered cases surged by 45.5% and the number of suspects by 41.5%.
As of July this year, police have already apprehended 144 suspects across 68 technology leak cases.
Over the past five years, technology leak crimes rose from 89 cases in 2021 to 104 in 2022 and 149 in 2023, dropped to 123 in 2024, and surged again to 179 last year.
Notably, cases involving overseas leaks increased from 9 in 2021 to 33 in 2025.
Looking at last year's figures by sector, there were 15 cases in machinery, 8 in semiconductors, 11 in displays, 8 in electrical and electronics, and 5 in automobiles and railways. Particularly in the semiconductor sector, 5 out of the 8 cases involved overseas leaks.
First, the police plan to designate "Industrial Security Cooperation Officers" at provincial and metropolitan police agencies nationwide. They will be tasked with providing damage counseling for companies, universities, and research institutes, protecting and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and promoting the prevention of technology leak crimes.
Through this initiative, the police aim to actively uncover hidden underground cases—given the characteristic scarcity of reported leak crimes—and swiftly connect related intelligence to formal investigations.
Investigative personnel will also be strategically deployed according to demand in regions densely populated with large corporate headquarters and advanced R&D talent, as well as areas harboring national strategic industrial bases such as defense, semiconductors, and secondary batteries.
In particular, the Seoul and Gyeonggi Nambu provincial police agencies, which handle a high concentration of cases, will expand their dedicated technology leak investigation squads from one to two each.
Dedicated teams for each technology sector will also be designated to enhance investigative capabilities for large-scale and complex technology leak cases.
Along with expanding the workforce, the police plan to strengthen technology assessment, expert consulting, and information-sharing systems with relevant government bodies, including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and the National Intelligence Service.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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