The BYD logo is displayed at the Beijing Auto Show, April 25, 2024. Shares in Chinese carmaker BYD jumped on Feb. 11, after it unveiled plans to unroll advanced self-driving technology on nearly all its cars, including budget models priced below $10,000. AFP-Yonhap

A red flag has been raised over Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), which are being accused of being vulnerable to data breaches, surveillance and cyber espionage. This warning comes as Shenzhen-based EV producer BYD has started selling its cars in Korea, launching the ATTO 3 electric SUV last month at competitive prices. The price range for the Chinese EV model is between the low to mid-30 million won ($26,900), nearly 10 million won cheaper than similar Korean SUV models.

It remains uncertain whether BYD's ambitious plan to enter the Korean market will succeed. To do so, the Chinese EV maker will need to overcome two psychological obstacles. First, Koreans generally harbor a deep-seated distrust of products manufactured in China. Second, Korean consumers are known to prefer domestic brands over imports. These barriers are especially challenging for a Chinese firm.

Concerns over security risks, which have been raised recently, have cast further doubt on the future of BYD vehicles in the Korean market.

In a recent media interview, Lim Jong-in, a professor emeritus at Korea University, expressed concerns that Chinese vehicles — similar to Huawei products — could contain backdoors that allow the Chinese government to collect or access sensitive data about Korean drivers and their families. He urged the South Korean government to thoroughly assess any security risks posed by Chinese vehicles to prevent them from becoming conduits for cyber threats originating from China.

Connected cars, like the ATTO 3, are designed to collect sensitive data, such as drivers' personal information, driving patterns, the roads traveled and places visited. These "smart cars" are equipped with advanced technology that allows them to communicate with other vehicles and the internet.

The Chinese carmaker should disclose the type of data its vehicles collect, as well as how that data is processed and used.

BYD Korea has denied the allegations, stating that it fully understands Korean consumers' concerns about personal data breaches. The company claimed that it would not share any collected data with its headquarters in China.

Concerns over security risks tied to Chinese EVs have emerged in the wake of similar issues surrounding Chinese firm DeepSeek's R1 open-source chatbot. In response to security worries, South Korea's Cabinet ministries, along with public and private entities, have banned employees from downloading, accessing or installing DeepSeek's website and devices. The chatbot collects large quantities of user data and, like other Chinese tech companies such as Huawei, there are concerns that the Chinese government and military could access this information, leading to potential surveillance, intellectual property theft or cyber espionage.

Similar to other countries, DeepSeek's chatbot became highly popular in Korea. Over 1.2 million Koreans downloaded the Chinese app within a week of its release in late January, before the security alert was issued for the chatbot.

Korea is one of the world's technology leaders and one of the most digitally connected countries. However, when it comes to digital awareness, the country is lagging far behind others. South Korea is digitally illiterate, as evidenced by its response to global cyber threats. Despite being one of the most targeted countries by cyberattacks, both the government and the National Assembly have been notoriously slow to address these threats.

The National Assembly has shown irresponsibility in counterintelligence. An amendment bill aimed at redefining espionage to include agents from any foreign countries, rather than just North Korea, has been stuck in partisan gridlock for years. Last year, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) agreed to pass the bill to amend the Criminal Law and redefine the nationalities of spies. However, the DPK changed its position at the last minute, arguing that the bill, if approved as it was, could be misused and that further discussion was needed to address its potential loopholes. As a result, the bill has been pending in the National Assembly ever since.

The nation has paid the price for the absence of laws to prosecute foreign espionage. Several Chinese nationals have been arrested at different times for using drones to film South Korea's national intelligence agency, U.S. aircraft carriers, South Korea's naval facilities and Jeju International Airport. However, none of them were prosecuted due to the lack of relevant laws.

The National Assembly must approve the revised bill without delay to allow for the prosecution of foreign espionage under the law. South Korea's digital border remains porous due to the absence of measures to prevent or hold violators accountable.

Now is the time to tighten South Korea's digital border. Among the necessary steps, raising awareness of cyber espionage, foreign government surveillance and intellectual property theft are the most urgent tasks to safeguard the nation from malicious foreign actors.