The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 506



Only Krnovel

506. Obtaining Evidence (1)

I returned to Korea after finishing my schedule in the US.

Meanwhile, President Trump had just passed a really outrageous bill, and a vice chairman was waiting for me to discuss it.

“President Trump signed a new National Defense Authorization Act. It includes Export Control Reform, which means that exports to Chinese companies may not be possible without U.S. permission.”

“They are putting more and more pressure on me.”

It was a strategy to pressure China under the pretext of security.

The National Defense Authorization Act was a bill that prevented the export of American technology because of the involvement of Chinese IT, home appliance, and telecommunications companies and the Chinese Communist Party.

“Now that the bill has passed, Korea will also be greatly affected.”

“In particular, there is a strong outlook that telecommunications companies will suffer significant damage. There are quite a few Korean telecommunications companies that use Chinese telecommunications equipment.”

“We may have to replace all our communications equipment.”

“If the communication equipment is not replaced, security issues may arise, which could serve as a justification for the withdrawal of US forces from Korea.”

There were suspicions that backdoors were installed in Chinese telecommunications equipment.

So, the United States could claim that information about US forces in Korea could be leaked to China through a backdoor.

“If we replace all of our Chinese equipment, there will be a huge backlash from China.”

“The Chinese telecommunications equipment imported by Korean companies is worth about 300 billion won. On the other hand, the semiconductors and parts we export to Chinese companies are worth 13 trillion won.”

Our relationship with the Chinese telecom companies has been overwhelmingly advantageous to us.

We export 13 trillion won, but we only import about 300 billion won.

“Is Taewoo Telecom also using Chinese equipment?”

“We are using a small portion of them, but it is not our main equipment, so it does not matter much. However, there are other carriers that are using Chinese equipment in large quantities.”

“It has nothing to do with Taewoo Communications, but it seems like we might get into trouble for no reason.”

Among the telecommunications companies, we were the only one that did semiconductors.

Before the return, KS Group also owned a semiconductor business, but in this life, Taewoo Group took over.

“It is difficult to replace all the 5G equipment that has been introduced in reality all at once. It seems that they will try to solve the problem by first replacing only the equipment near the US military in Korea.”

“But the White House seems to be taking a stronger stance than I thought. You said you would prepare a special gift for me, but the gift is missing.”

“It’s not that there are no gifts at all. Some of the contents of the National Defense Authorization Act that was passed this time include some that are helpful to Korea. In particular, regarding technology protection, there is a provision to cooperate with Korea to protect technology.”

President Trump kept his promise.

This is a promise that was barely achieved by investing 22 billion dollars in the agricultural belt every year, so of course it must be kept.

“If we reject Chinese telecommunications equipment and take measures to protect technology, China will react strongly.”

“China claims that everything from technology theft to backdoor issues is just speculation by the United States.”

“You’re saying you’re going to stick your neck out because there’s no proper evidence?”

Coordinated attack by the US and South Korea.

Protecting the technology of Korean companies, especially the various technologies and patents of Taewoo Group, was a must.

“There are some cases, but they are not enough evidence to drive Chinese companies out.”

“If you look for evidence, it will come out. So when will the full-scale technology protection measures be implemented?”

“It is said that the US and South Korean working-level officials will visit China for consultations starting as early as next month. And I understand that they plan to put an end to the talks before the G7 summit to be held in Hiroshima, Japan next year.”

G7 summit.

It was a meeting where the United States and China had no choice but to meet.

And, based on the results so far, it has also been a place for fierce negotiations.

“Until then, we just need to secure some solid evidence.”

“In the process, the Chinese government may impose strong sanctions on Korean companies.”

“If we don’t find proper evidence, then that could happen.”

It was true that Korea was easier than the United States.

So, there was a high possibility that Korea would become a scapegoat for the technology protection policy being pursued jointly with the United States.

However, if China were able to secure evidence that could not be evaded, negotiations could proceed in a direction that would be advantageous only to Korea.

***

The next day.

I visited the Artificial Intelligence Center to meet Director Cheon Min-jeong.

Center Director Cheon Min-jeong showed up today with disheveled hair from working on multiple projects at the same time.

“Sorry I’m late. I had an event that needed to be finished in a hurry, so I was a little late.”

“I came early. Director Chun is not late. So, have a cup of coffee and catch your breath.”

“I’ll have coffee later. I still have work to do today.”

It meant to get to the point quickly.

Wouldn’t Director Chun be the only one who can do this to the chairman?

That didn’t hurt my feelings or anything, because I was the one who threw a lot of work at her.

“It is now time to pull out the net we have cast over China.”

“What kind of net are you talking about? I don’t know what you are talking about because you have thrown so many nets.”

“Wasn’t the net only cast for Chinese semiconductor companies?”

A Chinese semiconductor company once planted industrial spies.

That made Center Director Cheon Min-jeong very angry and he took several retaliatory measures, including backdoors, against Chinese semiconductor companies.

But the nets that are cast are larger?

Does this mean that other Chinese companies have taken similar measures?

“Investigating semiconductor companies supported by the Chinese government inevitably required multiple nets.”

“You didn’t conduct information gathering activities targeting all companies that use semiconductors, did you?”

“Actually, I didn’t intend to do that. The Chinese semiconductor company stole our data and shared it with other Chinese companies. So the net naturally grew bigger, and I was able to collect information from many companies.”

That was nonsense.

Chinese companies may have shared data containing backdoors.

However, in order to collect more essential information, meticulous management was necessary, and the net was able to be maintained because Director Cheon Min-jeong had been directly managing it up until now.

“As long as you don’t get caught, it won’t be a problem at all.”

“The chances of getting caught are less than 1%, and even if you do get caught, we’ve made sure that there’s absolutely no connection to the Taewoo Group.”

“So, did you catch any fish in the net? We need evidence that you stole technology from a Korean company.”

“We managed to secure over a thousand pieces of evidence. We even collected all the data of people who moved from Korean companies to Chinese companies.”

Changing jobs wasn’t a problem.

Chinese companies were aggressively recruiting employees from Korean companies to narrow the technology gap.

Where is the employee who wouldn’t be shaken by the promise of a salary that is more than five times higher?

The question was whether the technicians took technology or confidential information from existing Korean companies as they moved over.

“Do you think that we have a separate list of people who illegally leaked confidential information to Chinese companies and even secured evidence of this?”

“If we handed over the data to the prosecution right now, there is so much data that he could be arrested right away. And we have even secured evidence that the Chinese company hired industrial spies and received confidential data.”

Cheon Min-jeong was a very persistent person.

If Taewoo Semiconductor hadn’t been touched, Cheon Min-jeong wouldn’t have been so persistent in collecting evidence.

But it was the Chinese company that first touched the hornet’s nest, and thanks to that, they were able to secure evidence that gave them a very advantageous position in technology protection negotiations.

“You don’t need this card right now, so just organize it.”

“We have enough evidence and have cleaned it up very neatly. It’s too disgusting to just watch these guys. Can’t we just blow it up now?”

“If you blow it now, you will only receive a light punishment. However, the law will be revised soon. The Espionage Act will be revised and the Industrial Espionage Special Act will be passed in this National Assembly, so just wait a little bit.”

Korea was a country that was really vulnerable to technology leaks.

This was partly because the punishment was light, and since they only had to spend less than three years in prison, they could sell confidential information without any risk.

“Can the Espionage Act, which has been in place for 70 years, be revised this time? If you don’t pass on information to North Korea, which is designated as an enemy, you can’t be punished under the Espionage Act, right?”

“So we need to change the law. The evidence we have will play a big role. And the technology protection agreement we’re working on with the United States will help us make that happen.”

President Choi Jae-seok had already been preparing a special law on industrial espionage since last year.

Now, if we could only get public approval, we could establish sentencing standards that are 10 times stronger than the current ones.

They sold the technology that is the foundation of Korea, and it only lasted 3 years?

Wouldn’t it be possible to prevent technology leaks by spending at least 30 years in prison and receiving a fine of several billion won?

“Don’t we need an example to create a situation? There is one place that can cause national anger to boil over.”

“If you have one large-scale example, it makes things a lot easier.”

“But it has nothing to do with Taewoo Group. One of Samjin Display’s partner companies is continuously leaking information to Chinese competitors.”

China is not only pursuing semiconductor development.

Before semiconductors, we started digging into displays and had achieved some level of success.

This was possible because Korea’s outstanding display technology was transferred to Chinese companies, which led to a decline in the competitiveness of Korean display companies.

“I can give a good gift to Samjin Group. Can you hand over the information you collected today?”

“I’ll pass it on to you right now. Is there anything else I can do for you? If I do something a little illegal, I can obtain all the conversations on social media and messenger apps of all the executives and employees of that company.”

“If you collect evidence through illegal means, you won’t be able to punish them properly. But please collect as much evidence as possible.”

All that was needed was to not file it with the court.

Because illegally collected evidence can be left to those who do illegal work.

***

After work, I went to Myeongdong.

Lee Young-han, the owner of Myeongdong, welcomed me without even wearing shoes.

“What’s going on, Chairman?”

“I came to ask you a favor. If it’s inconvenient, I’ll come back later.”

“Absolutely not. If it were a request from the Chairman, I would jump out of my sleep and do it!”

I handed him the information I had received from Cheon Min-jeong.

It was a company that was transferring its display technology to China, and a list of related parties was also included.

“What should I do?”

“They are the ones who are transferring their technology to China. They say they are making money by selling technology worth over 10 billion won every year.”

“I am making money through illegal means, so I cannot receive money through normal means.”

“Can you throw those involved into the abyss?”

“I can make him vomit out everything from the money he stole to the assets he currently owns. If you, Chairman, put in a little effort, I can handle things more easily.”

“The police and prosecutors will turn a blind eye to this case. And we will also help you with the National Tax Service.”

Lee Young-han smiles.

It seemed like an innocent smile to me, but in Myeongdong, people used to call his smile the devil’s smile.