According to the North Korean News, a former Samsung Electronics engineer has been arrested and transferred to prosecutors on suspicion of poaching Samsung's semiconductor core technology talent and leaking 20 nanometer DRAM memory chip technology to a Chinese company.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Department's Industrial Technology Security Investigation Team stated today that a 64 year old former engineer at Samsung Electronics has been arrested on suspicion of violating the "Occupational Stability Act" and transferred to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office.

According to reports, the man is a former employee of Samsung Electronics and is accused of operating an unregistered human resources agency and receiving economic compensation in 2018. He recruited core technical talents from Samsung Electronics with at least 2 to 3 times the favorable salary to assist in "replicating" a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) factory in China, and successfully produced semiconductor wafers in April 2022. This DRAM factory took only 1 year and 3 months from completion to production. Generally speaking, it takes 4 to 5 years for wafers to go from testing to mass production.

At the same time, the human resources agency of the man's registration machine also arranged for key semiconductor personnel working at Samsung Electronics and Hynix to switch to a foreign company, which was founded by Cui Zhenxi, former CEO of Samsung Electronics and Vice President of Hynix Semiconductor. Cui Zhenxi is currently arrested on suspicion of leaking DRAM manufacturing technology below 30 nanometers to foreign countries through the company. This technology is a key national technology in South Korea, independently developed by Samsung Electronics. Cui Zhenxi was also arrested for stealing blueprints from Samsung Electronics' semiconductor factory and attempting to establish a 'Samsung Electronics cloning factory'.

The South Korean police mentioned that the economic value of the leaked technology is as high as 4.3 trillion Korean won (about 3.04 billion US dollars), and if the relevant economic benefits are considered, the actual loss scale is even larger.

In addition to this former engineer, two representatives and legal representatives of headhunting companies who used the same method to poach Korean semiconductor talents have been brought to justice. It is reported that the headhunting company has recruited over 30 technical personnel. 

Despite the outflow of key technology from South Korea, the police can only arrest suspects involved in the case under the less severe "Occupational Stability Act" rather than the "Industrial Technology Protection Act". The police explained that according to current regulations, the act of leaking technology through poaching is not within the scope of punishment under the Industrial Technology Protection Law. Therefore, it is necessary to amend relevant laws to severely punish commercial espionage.

According to reports, a total of 21 people, including former Samsung Electronics engineers, have been transferred to justice in this technology leak case. 

This is the first case of applying South Korea's Employment Security Act to investigate and arrest brokers suspected of technology leakage crimes. According to the Employment Security Act of South Korea, operators must obtain permission from the Minister of Employment and Labor before conducting overseas employment placement services.

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