China stresses 'fair environment for Chinese companies' ahead of South Korea's expanded espionage law

[Financial News] Ahead of the implementation of South Korea’s revised Criminal Act, which expands the scope of espionage offenses to counter industrial technology leaks and threats from foreign spies, China’s foreign ministry stressed that South Korea should provide Chinese companies with a “non-discriminatory environment.”
Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, said at a regular briefing on the 11th, “We believe that all countries should guarantee companies’ normal investment and business activities and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment.”
She also stressed, “The Chinese government has consistently required Chinese companies to engage in international cooperation on the basis of complying with international rules and laws and regulations.”
She was responding to a question about South Korea’s move to strengthen its defenses against industrial espionage through the legal revision, amid claims that half of the technology leak cases in South Korea last year were linked to China.
In February this year, the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea passed an amendment to the Criminal Act expanding the scope of espionage offenses from “an enemy state” to “a foreign country or an entity equivalent thereto.” The revised Criminal Act will take effect on the 13th.
Industrial technology leak offenses have so far been prosecuted under laws including the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology. However, calls have persisted for applying the espionage offense under the Criminal Act, which allows a sentence of at least seven years in prison, because the maximum sentence under the existing law—up to 15 years in prison—was considered relatively light.
However, because the previous Criminal Act focused on “an enemy state,” espionage charges could not be brought unless the technology was leaked to North Korea.
In the future, security cases involving foreign nationals, which have so far been handled under general aiding-the-enemy offenses or violations of the Protection of Communications Secrets Act, may also be prosecuted under the espionage offense in the Criminal Act.

[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, international affairs specialist Reporter