The current Act designates and manages as national core technology those technologies that may have a serious adverse effect on the country’s security or the development of the economy if leaked to another country due to its high technological and economic value or industrial growth potential in Korean or other markets.

However, there is no system that forces the institution possessing industrial technology to apply for determination on whether its technology is a national core technology if it does not seek such determination or intentionally avoids it.

Furthermore, there are shortcomings in comprehensive planning, fact-finding surveys, or punishment despite the growing importance in industrial technology, which requires improvements. It is also needed to bring the Industrial Technology Protection Committee under the Prime Minister’s oversight to strengthen its role.

Details

A. Establish a comprehensive plan every 3 years (Article 5).

B. State that the Industrial Technology Protection Committee shall be under the Prime Minister’s oversight (Article 7).

C. Prepare the legal basis that allows the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy to recommend the institution possessing industrial technology to apply for determination on whether its technology amounts to national core technology (Article 9-2 newly inserted).

D. Require a fact-finding survey to be conducted every 2 years (Article 17).

E. Expand confidentiality obligations to persons with a duty to maintain confidentiality of industrial technology depending on the contract of the institution possessing industrial technology (Article 34).

F. Prescribe that any person, who leaks national core technology to use it or let it be used in a foreign country, shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for an indefinite term or imprisonment with labor for a limited term of not less than ten years (Article 36).

Articles 7, 9-2, and 34