South Korean prosecutors have indicted four engineers for allegedly trying to sell "Wibro" high-speed mobile Internet technology to the United States for 190 million dollars. Three former employees received secret information from Hwang, one current worker at Posdata affiliated with the country"s top steelmaker POSCO, through e-mails or portable hard discs since October last year. The technology theft was checked and stopped before the "core" data was handed over to a US technology firm, only identified by its initial "I" which the trio was working for.
They had planned to sell the technology to an unnamed US communications company for 180 billion won (193 million dollars). Posdata, which has spent 90 billion won in developing the new technology, last week filed a lawsuit with a US court. Prosecutors have arrested Hwang and are seeking the repatriation of the trio, believed to be in the US. The Wibro, or Wireless Broadband, refers to South Korea"s homegrown next-generation technology which allows people to enjoy high-speed Internet while driving a car or travelling by train.