Continuing the story of relations between Seoul and Beijing, we shall here discuss the high-profile spy scandals of 2024, which were not limited to cases of industrial espionage or military intelligence leaks, nor were they one-sided, as South Korean citizens were also caught engaging in similar activities in China.
South Korean spies in China
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press briefing that the arrest of the Korean citizen was made in accordance with the country’s laws. The South Korean stated that the detainee had been visited by the ambassador in person, which is suggestive. The spokesman announced that the individual’s rights had not been violated and that the investigation was continuing. The present author will endeavor to report on its outcome.
Meanwhile, back in the summer, the South Korean intelligence services warned tourists and South Korean citizens living in China that a new rule came into effect there on July 1 that allows police to check electronic devices of anyone they deem necessary for national security without a court warrant. It was stressed that any mention of political leaders in China or Taiwan, ethnic minority issues, human rights, and religious activities were among the topics that citizens should be especially careful about.
Chinese spies in South Korea
On May 31, 2024, South Korea’s Supreme Court upheld a two-year prison sentence for a Korean scientist employed at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) for leaking 72 files to China, including research data on light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology.
In 2017, the scientist joined China’s Thousand Talents program, after which he was offered 3.3 billion won ($2.4 million) to participate in research projects and for other expenses. In 2020, he was charged with violating South Korea’s Industrial Technology Act as well as other laws.
On October 18, the Court of Appeals increased the prison term for the head a of subcontractor to SK hynix Inc. to one and a half years. He had been convicted of leaking semiconductor technology belonging to SK hynix Inc. to China and stealing advanced technology from a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co.
On November 7, 2024, a court sentenced a former Chinese employee of SK hynix Inc. to one and a half years in prison and a fine of 20 million won (US$14,319), after finding her guilty of violating the Industrial Technology Act by stealing semiconductor manufacturing technology.
The 36-year-old Chinese national began working in SK hynix’s department responsible for analyzing faulty semiconductor designs in 2013 before moving to the firm’s Chinese branch, where she was responsible for advising on business-to-business transactions from 2020-2022. After returning to South Korea in 2022, she joined Chinese technology firm Huawei that same month, with a higher annual salary.
The investigation revealed that before leaving SK hynix, she had printed out about 4,000 of company data on solutions in the semiconductor manufacturing process, despite the firm’s ban on using data storage devices and its thorough logs of in-house printouts for technology security reasons.
Another headline-grabbing story involved the company Kakao, known for its popular messenger service, which allegedly shared the credit and personal data of some 40 million customers with Chinese fintech company Alipay without their consent, prompting a flurry of public criticism.
Finally, on September 29, 2024, South Korean media outlets reported that Chinese accounts on Internet forums had manipulated public opinion online about South Korean industrial sectors that were in competition with Chinese firms. Allegedly, 77 suspicious Chinese accounts on Naver, South Korea’s leading online portal “systematically” uploaded comments that were harmful to South Korea’s automobile, silicon chips, battery, smartphone and other industries. YouTube also found 239 suspicious accounts that had posted up to 2,698 comments on a single news article. All the comments praised Chinese products, such as automobiles, chips, batteries and smartphones, while denigrating their South Korean rivals.
Moreover, the authors of the study claimed that the comments were aimed at dividing public opinion by instigating gender, regional and political conflicts, instigating a sense of dismay in relation to the South Korean government and undermining the credibility of the media.
Another news story related to the decision by South Korean police to replace 667 Chinese-made surveillance cameras which were vulnerable to hacker attacks. Over the past three years, some 30,000 Chinese surveillance cameras disguised as domestic products have been installed at military and police installations, and in 79 local government offices and the premises of state-owned enterprises managing critical infrastructure such as roads, railroads and ports.
Panic about the Chinese diaspora and tourists
There has also been a great deal of fuss in the media about reports on the influence of the Chinese diaspora in the South Korea and the unseemly behavior of Chinese tourists.
Chinese tourists have been accused of defacing tourist attractions, disrupting public order and sexual harassment, there have been many photographs of uncollected garbage and instances of petty theft are very common.
MBS reports that Jeju Island is turning into a Chinese island day by day. It turns out that after 2008, when Chinese citizens were allowed to stay on the island without a visa for 30 days, they began actively buying up land to build theme parks, casinos and high-rise buildings. In 2019, Chinese citizens owned about 9.81 million square meters of the island, accounting for 43.5% of all land owned by foreigners.
Repatriation of defectors from the North and illegal migrants from China to South Korea
In addition, the South Korean media continue to stir up the issue of the “forced repatriation of hundreds of North Korean defectors detained in China.” Readers will recall that Beijing does not recognize North Korean defectors as refugees and regularly repatriates those who are caught.
On May 2, 2024, another human rights group, the North Korean People’s Liberation Front, claimed that on April 26, 200 North Korean defectors detained at a facility in northeastern Jilin Province, which borders North Korea, had been sent back to the North against their will, prompting a spokesman for the Ministry of Reunification to state that “North Korean defectors abroad should not be forcibly repatriated against their will.”
On November 20, 2024, the UN Human Rights Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) concluded that China’s repatriation of North Korean defectors last year constituted an “arbitrary deprivation of liberty” and called on China and North Korea to take steps to address the issue. The decision came in response to a petition filed on behalf of North Korean citizen Kim Cheol-ok, who had been expelled from the PRC to her home country in another mass repatriation after the conclusion of the Hangzhou Asian Games in October 2023. Following the repatriation, her sister, who lives in England, filed a lawsuit.
No less excitement has been generated by the “culture wars,” which we will discuss in the final installment of the series.
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, Leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies, Institute of China and Modern Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences
