South Korea has revised its export regulations, imposing stricter controls on strategic goods including high-performance AI chips and advanced semiconductor equipment, aligning with international regimes amid efforts to enhance oversight and simplify procedures.
South Korea has tightened controls on a range of strategic goods, including high-performance artificial intelligence chips and advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, as it brings its export rules into line with recent changes agreed in major multilateral control regimes. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the revised notification took effect on 1 August and reflects more than 80 updates from the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Missile Technology Control Regime.
The new rules place additional scrutiny on dual-use products that could be diverted from civilian use to military purposes. That now includes high-performance AI integrated circuits, advanced lithography, etching and deposition equipment used in semiconductor production, and nucleic acid synthesers. Exporters of those items must obtain government approval before shipping them overseas, the ministry said.
At the same time, officials have eased some controls where technology has moved on. The threshold for high-energy secondary batteries has been raised from more than 350 watt-hours per kilogram to more than 500 watt-hours per kilogram, while the definition of botulinum toxin has been narrowed to botulinum neurotoxin to make the standard clearer. The ministry said these adjustments are meant to align regulation more closely with current technical realities.
The revision also removes paperwork that officials said had become unnecessary. A separate exporter pledge, previously required with strategic-goods licence applications, has been abolished and its obligations moved into the main notification text. The ministry said it will support the change with industry briefings and a dedicated export-control help desk at the Korea Strategic Trade Institute, as part of an effort to help firms comply while keeping oversight tight.
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