Industrial espionage is the act of obtaining a company's or organization's confidential information by illegal or unethical means and passing it to competitors or third parties or using it. In a modern industrial environment where information is competitiveness, technology and strategic secrets are seen as core assets tied directly to a company's survival. Losing or leaking such secrets can lead to huge economic losses and damage to reputation. Industrial espionage targets this weakness to gain an unfair edge in competition between companies. It is carried out through various means, mainly cyberattacks, bribery of insiders and physical intrusion. As digital transformation has accelerated, cyberattacks such as hacking have become a leading method. For example, there are many cases of leaking or illegally copying sensitive information such as patented technology, product designs and customer data. In addition, insiders are sometimes bribed or coerced into handing over confidential information.

According to a news article, it has been suggested that industrial espionage that hands advanced technology and industrial secrets to foreign countries such as China or Japan could be punished as espionage. The report said that, with the recent passage of an espionage law amendment in the National Assembly, leaking information not only to an enemy state but to foreign countries and related groups is expected to fall under the crime of espionage. The amendment, said to come 71 years after the law was enacted, centers on widening and specifying the scope of punishment for leaks of technology and confidential information. The article pointed out that of 13 cases convicted of violating the Military Secrets Protection Act from 2019 to 2023, only 2 resulted in prison sentences, noting the limits of the existing legal system. The amendment strengthens punishment by imposing at least three years in prison for espionage linked to a foreign country. It is seen as a response to growing attempts to steal secrets in the military and industrial fields. With this in mind, this paper examines an industrial espionage court case and analyzes the problem of technology leaks.

Industrial espionage means obtaining an organization's confidential information by improper means and using it or passing it to a third party.

Note: The espionage amendment the paper describes as passed was at the subcommittee stage of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee when the paper was written. The amendment widening Article 98 of the Criminal Act from 'an enemy state' to 'a foreign country or an equivalent group' passed the National Assembly plenary session on February 26, 2026, 73 years after the Act was enacted in 1953. The Supreme Court Sentencing Commission raised the recommended sentence for overseas leaks of national core technology to up to 18 years for cases indicted on or after July 1, 2024, and the amended Industrial Technology Protection Act, in force from July 22, 2025, raised the maximum fine for overseas leaks of national core technology to 6.5 billion won.