The target of espionage is 'enemy → foreign countries'...the passing of the amendment to the Criminal Code

The first subcommittee of the Legislative and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly voted to amend the criminal law to expand the scope of espionage from 'enemy' to 'foreign'.

The current Espionage Act (Article 98 of the Criminal Act) stipulates the scope of espionage as an enemy country, and the amendment also allows the punishment of espionage for "foreign or equivalent organizations."

The amendment defined espionage as "communication" with foreign countries, that is, the act of detecting, collecting and leaking information by communicating for criminal purposes.

It has been pointed out as a problem that the scope of existing espionage is limited to enemy countries, so foreign espionage such as China, except for North Korea, cannot be punished.

Earlier in late July, discussions over the revision of the law were accelerated after a military officer from the Military Intelligence Command leaked military secrets, including personal information of our military intelligence personnel, to Chinese people.

The amendment is expected to be processed at the plenary session on the 28th after a plenary session of the Judiciary Committee, and if the amendment crosses the threshold of the plenary session, it will be possible to apply espionage charges to foreigners' industrial espionage activities.