South Korea is arming itself against industrial spies targeting its world-leading semiconductor industry, broadening its espionage laws for the first time in more than seven decades as Chinese rivals close the technology gap. From Sunday, those who steal “national secrets” on behalf of foreign countries may be prosecuted as spies and could face sentences of up to 30 years in prison. The amendment closes a longstanding loophole in Korean law that said only those working for an “enemy” state — a category that in practice meant only North Korea — could be found guilty of spying.

The tougher regime comes amid alarm in Seoul over technology leakage in an industry which has accounted for more than 40 per cent of the country’s exports this year and has powered economic growth during the ongoing AI boom. On the bill’s passage into law earlier this year, justice minister Chung Sung-ho said it provided a “legal safety net” to prevent the leakage of advanced technologies. The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) last year identified a record 33 cases involving the leakage of technology overseas, more than half involving China.

Semiconductors were the most targeted sector. According to the KNPA, 86 per cent of all technology leak cases last year involved SMEs. In one case last year, police arrested a former employee of an SK Hynix supplier at Gimpo airport near Seoul, as he prepared to leave for China.

They accused him of attempting to take sensitive high-bandwidth memory chip packaging technology with him. Concern has intensified as Chinese memory-chip makers have gained ground. Revenues at China’s leading DRAM producer, CXMT, rose almost ninefold year on year to $22.4bn in the first half of 2026.

According to Trend Force, CXMT’s share of global DRAM revenues rose from 7.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 to 9.5 per cent in the second, compared with 39.4 per cent for Samsung and 24.9 per cent for SK Hynix. Last December, Korean prosecutors announced the indictment of 10 former Samsung employees over the alleged transfer of the company’s 18-nanometre DRAM manufacturing technology to CXMT.