South Korea espionage law changes took effect on Sunday 13 September 2026, extending the offence beyond North Korea to every foreign country and foreign organisation. A new Article 98-2 of the Criminal Act carries a minimum sentence of three years. The National Assembly passed the amendment on 26 February 2026.
What Changed on 13 September 2026
South Korea did not widen its existing espionage offence. It added a second one alongside it. The old provision, Article 98, was retitled “Espionage for Enemy States” and left in place; the new Article 98-2, “Espionage for Foreign Countries”, covers everyone else.
| Article 98 | Article 98-2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Espionage for Enemy States | Espionage for Foreign Countries |
| Who it covers | An enemy state, which in practice has meant North Korea | Any foreign country or equivalent organisation, allies and foreign companies included |
| Sentence | Death, life imprisonment, or at least seven years | At least three years |
| In force | Long-standing, now retitled | From 13 September 2026 |
The change was promulgated as Law No. 21450 on 12 March 2026, with an enforcement date of 13 September 2026, according to South Korea’s national law information database. A third provision, Article 102, was amended so that foreign entities hostile to South Korea are treated as enemy states. This is the first substantive revision of the espionage offence since 1953.
What Prosecutors Now Have to Prove
Article 98-2 is narrower than “leaking anything abroad is now a crime”. Two elements have to be established together.
- A national secret: the information disclosed must qualify as a state secret, not merely as commercially sensitive material.
- A foreign connection: the act must be carried out under the direction, instigation or other contact of a foreign country or an equivalent organisation.
The conduct caught is broad once those two elements are present: detecting, collecting, disclosing, delivering or brokering the secret, and assisting someone else who does. Attempts and certain preparatory acts are also covered.
Ordinary commercial transfers of information overseas do not automatically become espionage under this provision. Until now, prosecutors handling leaks to non-North Korean actors had to fall back on industrial technology and trade secret statutes, which carry lighter penalties.
Which Technologies the Law Is Aimed At
The statute itself speaks of national secrets rather than listing industries, but the National Intelligence Service, which backed the amendment, named four fields when the bill passed: semiconductors, displays, secondary batteries and artificial intelligence.
That mapping matters because South Korea’s strategic exposure is concentrated: Samsung Electronics and SK hynix together supply a large share of the world’s memory chips, and both compete directly with Chinese manufacturers scaling up their own memory and logic capacity. Beijing’s own push is running in parallel, including a state-backed AI chip cluster plan announced this month.
The Leak Case Behind the Change
The legislative argument rested on cases that existing law handled awkwardly. The most cited is the prosecution of former Samsung Electronics staff accused of passing 10-nanometre-class DRAM manufacturing know-how to ChangXin Memory Technologies, the Chinese memory maker known as CXMT.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted ten former Samsung employees, five of whom were arrested, under the Industrial Technology Protection Act, which restricts overseas disclosure of technology designated as nationally critical. A separate case ended in February 2025 with a former Samsung team manager sentenced to seven years for leaking 18-nanometre DRAM technology to the same company.
Because CXMT is a company in a country South Korea is not at war with, neither case could be charged as espionage. That is the gap Article 98-2 closes.
What Changes for Engineers and Foreign Employers
Nobody’s employment contract changed on 13 September, but the legal exposure attached to certain moves did. Three groups are affected in practice.
- Engineers moving to a foreign competitor: taking process know-how classified as a national secret to an overseas employer now risks an espionage charge rather than a trade secrets charge, with a higher sentencing floor.
- Foreign companies recruiting in South Korea: recruitment that involves soliciting protected technology can amount to the “direction or instigation” element of the offence.
- Researchers in joint programmes: collaboration with overseas institutions in the four named fields now sits closer to a criminal statute, which is likely to push companies to tighten internal classification and approval procedures.
Notably, the law does not carve out allies. An American, Japanese or European recipient is treated the same as a Chinese one, which is the single most-reported feature of the amendment and the one most likely to affect multinational operations.
The Objections, and What Is Still Unclear
The National Court Administration warned during the legislative process that the scope of punishment could be broadened excessively. The core difficulty is definitional: the Criminal Act does not spell out what makes a piece of commercial technology a national secret, which leaves the boundary to prosecutors and, eventually, to the courts.
As of 14 September 2026, no case has been charged under Article 98-2. No implementing guidance defining national secrets for the four named industries has been published, and no court has interpreted the new provision. South Korean defence exporters have separately raised concerns that routine export work could be caught, a question the text does not resolve.
Frequently Asked Questions
When Did the South Korea Espionage Law Take Effect?
On 13 September 2026, six months after promulgation on 12 March 2026. The National Assembly passed it on 26 February 2026.
What Is the Sentence Under Article 98-2?
Imprisonment of at least three years. The separate enemy-state offence under Article 98 remains punishable by death, life imprisonment or at least seven years.
Does the Law Apply to Leaks to Allied Countries?
Yes. The provision covers any foreign country or equivalent organisation, with no exemption for allies or for foreign companies.
Which Industries Does It Protect?
The statute refers to national secrets rather than industries. The National Intelligence Service identified semiconductors, displays, secondary batteries and artificial intelligence as the strategic technologies the change is meant to protect.
Has Anyone Been Charged Under the New Provision?
Not as of 14 September 2026. The law is not retroactive, so it applies to conduct from 13 September 2026 onward.
