A former researcher at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has been referred to prosecutors on suspicion of removing a research computer and other items from the institute without authorization ahead of their retirement.
The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency said on the 14th that it had referred A, a former principal researcher at KARI, to prosecutors on charges of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act.
A is suspected of entering the office on Aug. 16 last year, about two weeks before retiring, together with their husband, an outsider, and removing a computer, a monitor and several other items without permission. A later took a position as a university professor.
In police questioning, A denied the allegations, saying they had been sorting out personal belongings before retirement and that the files were not classified, according to police. Police concluded, however, that the material A removed included aerospace research and development data barred from release outside the institute.
KARI is designated a Class B national security facility, where outsider access is restricted and the removal of items must be strictly controlled. Even so, allegations that current and former researchers have taken data out without authorization have surfaced repeatedly.
Beyond A, the Daejeon police are also investigating two people who left the institute last year, a researcher identified as B and an administrative staff member identified as C, on the same charges. They are suspected of removing hard drives they had used at KARI without authorization. KARI's own internal review found that 10 of the files B took out qualified as national core technology.
KARI was audited in 2023 over allegations that four researchers had attached and detached storage devices such as hard drives and accessed technical data. In March last year, a researcher was searched by police over a separate technology leak case.