On March 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok, a Chinese video platform, from being downloaded in the United States due to security concerns. The bill was approved with an overwhelming majority of 352 votes in favor and 65 against. Europe is also engulfed in national security issues, targeting “Big Tech” companies with astronomical fines for abusing market dominance, exemplified by Apple’s recent penalties.
Protectionism is a global trend. Last year, the number of trade technical barriers (TBT) reported by World Trade Organization (WTO) members exceeded 4,000 for the first time, reaching 4,079 incidents.
Amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and China, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which have led to a rapid reshaping of supply chains and a spread of new protectionism, the threat to economic security is becoming a reality. However, voices in South Korea are raising concerns over the lack of a systematic legal framework for responding to these threats. The country is reportedly vulnerable to foreign companies poaching domestic semiconductor technology and talent, and to assaults on the market by Chinese companies like AliExpress, without even a proper concept of economic security in place.
The situation in major countries is different. Japan included economic security as a key element in its National Security Strategy announced in 2022. The European Union (EU) has introduced specific retaliation procedures against technological theft and economic coercion by foreign powers in its foreign trade policy. France enacted a decree on economic security policy in 2020.
With exports and imports accounting for about 80% of South Korea’s Gross Domestic Product, economic growth is impossible without economic security. However, the lack of comprehensive national response measures has resulted in 96 cases of technology leaks in the last five years alone. South Korea also lacks measures to counteract the theft of personal information by foreign companies. Professor We Jeong-hyeon of Chung-Ang University's Business School commented, “The EU and China prevent the outflow of their citizens’ personal information abroad, but South Korea is doing nothing. Legal measures must be urgently established.”