Ssangyong researchers indicted for leaking tech to Chinese carmaker

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By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Yonhap) -- Seven senior researchers at South Korea's Ssangyong
Motor Co. were indicted Wednesday on charges of leaking the firm's hybrid car
technology to its Chinese parent company.
The suspects handed over designs for hybrid engines and other key technologies to
the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), Ssangyong's majority shareholder,
according to the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office.
Prosecutors have been looking into the case for over three years. Ssangyong's
union filed a complaint against the Chinese carmaker in August 2006, accusing it
of stealing core technology for producing hybrid cars.
Investigators say SAIC used its Chinese researcher, who was dispatched to
Ssangyong's research center, to receive and send reports on diesel hybrid cars
starting July 2006. The suspects allegedly handed over the information to him.
The Chinese researcher has refused the prosecution's calls to come to Seoul for
questioning.
Ssangyong officials last week refuted local media reports on the case, arguing
the involved information cannot be considered "key technology" because it has not
yet been applied in mass production.
Investigators, however, note the technology has been jointly developed with
German company FEV since 2004 and received a US$48 million investment from the
South Korean government.
"The hybrid technology is not only Ssangyong's property but also
government-designated key technology that should be protected. As the two
companies (Ssangyong and SAIC) are separate entities, transferring the technology
without a legitimate contract is an illegal activity," prosecutor Kim Ju-hyun
said.
Ssangyong, the smallest among South Korea's three automakers, submitted a
turnaround plan to a Seoul court in September to cut the Chinese parent's holding
to 11.2 percent from 51 percent and repay its 1.23 trillion won (US$1.04 billion)
in debt over the next 10 years.
The court delayed its decision on the plan after the company's foreign creditors
rejected it last week.
Ssangyong became the first major corporate victim in South Korea of the global
economic crisis, as the slump affected sales of new cars last year. The firm's
woes deepened in summer as hundreds of dismissed workers occupied the company's
only plant for more than two months to protest massive layoffs.
As part of the turnaround plan, the automaker slashed about 30 percent of its
workforce, or 2,130 jobs.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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