Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Hyundai Rotem have been embroiled in controversy over technology extortion from a small and medium-sized firm.
According to "Sisa Journal e," at a recent National Assembly event on the "Damage cases from big companies' technology extortion," CEO "A" of the Sun Aerosys, asserted, "We launched the 'K-series tank small unit tactical simulation training equipment' project with Hyundai Rotem under the condition that we do not submit our source code and offer general manual. But, Hyundai Rotem later demanded the source code and design drawing.
"We politely declined to submit the design drawing along with the source code, but we were in danger of going to the lawsuit, so we had to offer it on condition that the code should be used only for the minimum quality inspection and maintenance."
Mr. "B," the head of Samyoung, claimed that his company has been damaged by Hyundai Heavy Industries. "Since the 2000s, Hyundai has localized its 'strong engine'," he said. We were responsible for the design and development of all the key components, including pistons, that go into this area. But Hyundai Heavy took over our technology one by one. In 2012, the company requested the launch process and in 2015, it requested data on the improvement of the pre-piston type management plan. It even took away the status of second suppliers in 2016.
"It didn't end up taking technology away." Hyundai Heavy illegally leaked technology from us to other companies. We asked the Daejeon District Prosecutors` Office to investigate the case, and the prosecution is currently under investigation after searching for it twice last year."
"Innovation growth should be led by small businesses. We need to move from a big business-led economy to an economy along with small- and medium-sized ones, and the key to that is eliminating technology extortion," said Kim Nam-geun, vice chairman of Minbyun-Lawyers for a Democratic Society at the event.
In response to the controversy, Hyundai Heavy Industries refuted to a media outlet, "We tried to identify quality issues in response to changes in production environment and did not demand data from suppliers for the purpose of acquiring technology from suppliers."