The world’s ‘super emergency’ for stealing Chinese technology… ‘Korea’ is a ‘soft bat'[과학을읽다]

Professor A sentenced to probation for stealing core technology for self-driving cars
KISTEP “Reinforcement of technology leakage control policies of major countries… Korea needs to be supplemented”

[아시아경제 김봉수 기자] #. Professor A of Korea’s top science and technology educational institution was arrested and indicted in September last year for leaking core technology for autonomous vehicles to China. Professor A was selected for the ‘Thousands Plan’, China’s plan to attract high-quality overseas talents in November 2017, and was charged with receiving hundreds of millions of won from a Chinese university and handing over a LiDAR technology research report. LiDAR is a cutting-edge technology that corresponds to the ‘eye’ of autonomous vehicles, and is a field in which fierce development competition is taking place in the global automobile industry. Although the court admitted all charges including Professor A’s violation of the Act on the Prevention and Protection of Industrial Technology, the court ruled that it was a ‘bump’ in consideration of “the fact that it is not a research data that generates economic results right away.”

As the competition for hegemony between the United States and China intensifies, competition over advanced technologies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, and quantum technology among major countries is also intensifying. In particular, China is stealing manpower and technology based on abundant funds like the Thousand Persons Plan, so major countries such as the United States are strengthening their ‘shields’ to prevent technology leakage. On the other hand, as in the case of Professor A, in Korea, punishment is still limited, and it is pointed out that stronger countermeasures are needed.

According to the ‘Overseas Technology Leak Prevention Policy Trends and Implications’ report published by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Planning and Evaluation on the 25th, major foreign countries are strengthening their systems to prevent technology leakage due to overseas investment in advanced technologies, M&A, and personnel transfers. have.

The United States is the most active, which has begun to contain China’s advances in semiconductors in earnest. In August 2018, during the Trump administration, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 2019) was passed with a focus on protecting the U.S. technological superiority by more rigorously reviewing technology transfers abroad. The Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), included in this bill, legally and perpetuates US export control policies already applied to commercial and dual-use products, software, and technologies, while broadening the scope of export controls and regulating them. strictly reinforced. Violations are punishable by up to $1 million in fines and up to 20 years in prison. The Biden Democrat administration has not changed its stance. The Fiscal Year 2021 Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 2021), passed in January of this year, contains a stronger industrial technology protection policy, such as the establishment of an assistant secretary in charge, a list of foreign talent programs and universities that threaten national security.

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The United States’ biggest ally, the United Kingdom, is also aggressively responding to growing concerns that China’s technology theft threatens national security. The British Parliament passed the National Security and Investment Act (NSIA) to protect key technology industries and core infrastructure in November 2020, and will come into effect on January 4, 2022. The framework is to provide the government with the authority to formally review and intervene in mergers and acquisitions or investments by companies that may threaten the UK’s national security. Violation of this will result in severe penalties such as cancellation of the transaction, along with a fine of 5% of the company’s maximum turnover or £10 million.

Japan is also taking all-out efforts to establish measures to prevent technology leaks from an economic and security point of view. In particular, as concerns about the leakage of the latest technology were heightened as they became the main targets of the Chinese government’s ‘Thousand Persons Plan’ along with Taiwan and South Korea, the Integrated Innovation Strategy Promotion Meeting in April, and the Trade and Trade Subcommittee of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Structure Deliberation Committee Security Guarantee in June The trade management subcommittee was held one after another, and the emergency response policy was summarized. The Japanese government is promoting measures to strengthen the system necessary for the collection, analysis, aggregation and sharing of economic and security-related information, and measures to prevent technology leakage to universities, research institutes, and companies. Enforcement will be strengthened, including mandatory permits.

semiconductor. material photo. Not related to the article. [이미지출처=로이터연합뉴스]

Taiwan, a major target of semiconductor technology piracy, is also preparing active countermeasures. The Taiwan Continental Commission announced last month that it would revise the ‘Cross-Strait (China and Taiwan) People’s Relations Ordinance’ to prevent the outflow of Taiwanese talents to the continent in order to protect ‘core technology’. Scientists must obtain permission to visit China, and fines of up to NT$10 million (about 410 million won) can be imposed for violations.

In fact, the Chinese government is openly focused on recruiting semiconductor talents from overseas, including Taiwan. At the opening of the annual plenary session of the National People’s Congress in early March, the 14th Five-Year Plan (14/5 Plan) revealed a plan to expand the recruitment of foreign technicians for technological independence. At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at the end of May, President Xi Jinping publicly announced that he would build a science and technology powerhouse through self-reliance and self-reliance in science and technology, and that he would seek foreign technical manpower. In Taiwan, it is estimated that about 200 semiconductor technicians have been seduced by China with wages three to four times higher over the past three years.

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As such, as major countries’ crackdown on technology is intensifying, China’s attack on Korean technology is also increasing. Representative examples include the leak of design drawings from Hyundai and Kia Motors in 2014 and the leak of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology from Samsung Display partners in 2018. However, among the trials for violation of the Industrial Technology Protection Act that have been conducted for the past three years, there are many critics that the punishment is weak enough that only 4% of them are sentenced to prison. In the case of economic costs that are difficult to prove, such as cryptocurrencies, it is necessary to further strengthen the crackdown and punishment in consideration of the difficulty of proving the damage in case of information and technology leakage through overseas servers and the fact that it is almost impossible to cooperate with the Chinese authorities. .

KISTEP said, “Korea is also currently promoting system improvement to prevent technology leakage, and it is necessary to supplement it by referring to various cases from each country.” It is also necessary to consider the assumption and review of this, etc. Efforts are needed to prevent the ever-increasing number of attempts to leak Korea’s cutting-edge technology and manpower,” he advised.

By Kim Bong-soo, staff reporter bskim@asiae.co.kr