Seoul's Espionage Law: A Tense Balancing Act Between Security and Trade South Korea's expanded espionage law has sparked a mix of reactions, from the security establishment's welcome to concerns about overreach and implications for the country's trade relationships.
The revised Criminal Act, which took effect on September 13, creates a broad offense covering espionage for any foreign country or equivalent organization, with a minimum sentence of three years in prison.
The amended law was passed after years of criticism that existing laws were too narrow to tackle industrial espionage involving foreign countries beyond North Korea.