South Korea's espionage laws, broadened for the first time in over seven decades, take effect on Sept. 13 as foreign spies increasingly target its chip sector (Daniel Tudor/Financial Times)

South Korea's espionage laws, which have not been broadened in over seven decades, are set to take effect on September 13. The new legislation aims to safeguard the country's chip sector, which has become a key target for foreign spies. According to the Japan Times, South Korea is home to global chip giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

The revised law will allow courts to sentence individuals who pass sensitive technology to any foreign country or equivalent organization to up to 30 years in prison. This shift in legislation effectively elevates the theft of industrial secrets from a corporate offense to a national-security threat. The change reflects the central role semiconductors have come to play in South Korea's economy and strategic power.

The new law comes as South Korea seeks to protect its advanced memory technology from increasingly formidable Chinese rivals. The country has previously imposed harsh penalties on former chip-industry employees caught leaking trade secrets overseas, but courts have been constrained by the narrow definition of espionage, which previously only applied to those proven to be spying for North Korea.

Brief written by urgent.news from Techmeme, Japan Times — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.