The head of a South Korean engine developer has been indicted without detention for leaking trade secrets of now defunct Daewoo Motors Co. to two Chinese carmakers, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said the CEO, identified only by his surname Kim, passed on about 19 classified documents related to Daewoo Motor’s indigenous technology for testing vehicle performance and safety to the Chinese firms.
Kim, a former engine developer at Daewoo Motor, moved to his current company in 2002 after Daewoo Motor was acquired by U.S. auto giant General Motors Co. a year earlier.
The 52-year-old had brought the documents with him and translated them for the two Chinese auto manufacturers between March and December last year, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have also indicted the firm’s overseas sales director, identified only by his surname Jeong, on charges of trying to leak trade secrets of Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s top automaker.
A former Hyundai Motor employee gave the 46-year-old a USB drive containing 159 files related to the carmaker’s engineering standards, prosecutors said, adding he copied them onto his computer without actually leaking them. (Yonhap)
