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An executive from South Korea has been detained for a second time, after previously being accused of stealing semiconductor intellectual property belonging to Samsung Electronics.

The executive has been held on fresh allegations of the theft of chip processing technology, according to court officials and the man’s lawyer on Friday (6 September).

A warrant had been issued by The Seoul Central District Court to detain the individual, Choi Jinseog, a day earlier.

A court official said the warrant was due to concerns that Choi was a flight risk.

The former Samsung executive who ran a chip making venture in China, has already been the subject of a high-profile industrial espionage trial since July 2023 and was detained and released on bail last November.

He has subsequently rejected those charges.

New charges faced by Choi are of allegedly being involved in the stealing of information related to Samsung's 20-nanometre DRAM chip processing, Kim Pilsung, Choi's lawyer, told Reuters.

Kim has said his client denies any wrongdoing and the information he is accused of stealing is publicly available.

So far, Choi has not been indicted over the new allegations, his lawyer said.

The case has highlighted efforts by South Korea to punish activity viewed as industrial espionage, as well as slowing down China's progress in chip manufacturing.

Choi was indicted in June 2023, when he was accused of seeking to build a copycat chip factory in China with sensitive information developed by Samsung.

In a letter to Reuters after his initial detainment in 2023, Choi wrote “What we were planning to build was a R&D fab and there is no R&D fab at [Samsung's] Xian plant. When there is no R&D fab to copy, there is no reason to copy.”

After being freed on bail, Choi told Reuters in April that police were investigating him and one of his former employees, an ex-Samsung worker, over fresh allegations related to Samsung's chip processing technology.

Editor：Vicky

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