Industry ministry launches team to enforce technology protection rules on site

South Korea's industry ministry said Friday it has set up a dedicated team to enforce technology protection rules at companies, launching the unit as leaks of industrial secrets continue and calls grow for existing safeguards to be applied more strictly.

The Technology Security Enforcement Team, a temporary body outside the ministry's regular staffing structure, sits under the trade security policy official and began operating on Oct. 30, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The ministry attributed the move to the need to strengthen on-site enforcement, saying recent technology leaks centered on high-tech industries had made it necessary to ensure that protective rules are actually carried out.

The team will widen the number of organizations subject to inspection and expand what those inspections cover, with the aim of inducing companies to fix weaknesses found when their security levels are assessed. Suspected illegal activity identified during the work will be shared continuously with investigative authorities so that cases can move directly into investigation and prosecution.

The unit will also draw up technology protection guidelines on major issues such as overseas expansion and the use of artificial intelligence and cloud services, and support their adoption in the field. It is further tasked with gathering policy proposals through close contact with companies and feeding them quickly into policy.

The launch builds on measures agreed at the 76th Industrial Technology Protection Committee on Oct. 19, chaired by Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan, which called for a full strengthening of the frequency and content of inspections, remedial orders when companies fail to carry out improvements, and a plan to give the ministry special judicial police authority over technology leaks.

"Technology protection requires companies' execution on the ground just as much as it requires institutions to be put in place," Kim said. The team will closely examine how companies protect their technology and help them implement the rules thoroughly, he added.