South Korea Charges Former DSME Employee For Leaking Confidential Submarine Details To Taiwan

Two individuals, one of whom was a former worker of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (the DSME), have been accused by South Korea of their role in providing Taiwan with submarine data and drawings. Per media sources, a former South Korean Navy officer and DSME employee founded a consulting firm, reportedly being investigated for failing to stop the submarine drawings from leaking.

There has been an ongoing debate about when the information was initially found and whether or not DSME was aware of the occurrence. The timing of the information breach was not disclosed. According to media reports, the corporation was aware of the leak last year; however, Hanwha Ocean, which purchased DSME in 2023, informed the Korea JoongAng Daily that the shipyard has known about the leak since 2019 and is cooperating with the search.

The two people are accused of breaking the Trade Secret Protection Act and the Foreign Act. It is thought that during their employment at the shipyard, they initially provided Taiwan with information regarding the DSME 1400 submarine. Later on, one of the individuals contributed to the founding of an independent consulting firm that worked with Korea’s submarine programs and, while there, gave Taiwan further information. The information was allegedly sent to CSBC, Taiwan’s state-owned shipbuilding company.

In its relationship with Taiwan, South Korea continues to play things cautiously. They are cautious not to upset Beijing and its ties to the Chinese mainland. The submarine in question, designated 1400, was designed by DSME to enhance the capabilities of a diesel-electric assault submarine created for South Korea by Germany’s Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft.

The first design was created in the late 1980s, and HDW sold it to South Korea, which used it to construct the first submarines. After that, South Korea consulted with DSME to build more vessels. From 1993 until 2001, South Korea put nine submarines into service. DSME built and sold three more submarines to Indonesia between 2017 and 2019.

In 2016, Taiwan initiated a program to create a homegrown submarine design. Taiwan dedicated its first newly constructed submarine in September 2023 as part of a commitment to build three submarines to replace severely outdated vessels in its fleet.

According to an exclusive revelation by The Korean Economic Daily on the case, the anonymous consulting firm has been charged before for its role in trade secret leaks. The company and one of its executives were jailed last year in a case involving further Taiwan submarine program components.

In its statement, Hanwha stressed that the incident happened in the past when Daewoo was in charge of the shipyard. Cyberattacks were allegedly aimed at DSME and its submarine programs to obtain information on their designs. There have been claims that the shipyard became the target of three North Korean-linked cyberattacks in 2016 and 2021. It was not very clear from public reporting if the attacks were 100% successful in breaching the sensitive data on these submarines.

Reference: koreajoongangdaily

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