South Korea is cracking down on tech leaks, promising tougher measures to prevent the country’s tech secrets from leaking internationally.

As the tech industry continues to evolve, especially with the rise of AI, tech secrets are more valuable than ever, with many even playing a role in national security concerns. According to Reuters, South Korea is cracking down on leaks that threaten its tech companies’ intellectual property.

“We will prevent illegal leaks of advanced technologies to raise the global competitiveness of our companies and strengthen technology leadership,” Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said.

As Reuters goes on to highlight, South Korea has experienced at 97 attempts to steal its tech secrets in the past five years, with many of those being attempts to steal semiconductor secrets. South Korea has already designated 12 industries as “national strategic technologies.”

While Choi said the South Korean government would introduce stronger penalties for leakers, he did not reveal what those penalties would entail.