A district court has sentenced a professor of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST) to two years in prison for leaking key technology on self-driving cars to China. 

The Daejeon District Court issued the ruling on Thursday, overturning a previous ruling of two years in prison, suspended for three years. 

The 63-year-old professor, who was indicted on charges of violating the law on protecting industrial technology, was taken into custody in court following the sentencing. 

The professor is accused of leaking to researchers at a university in China 72 files containing materials on Light Detection And Ranging(LIDAR) technology between 2017 and 2020. LIDAR is a key sensor which is often referred to as the eyes of self-driving vehicles as it creates a three-dimensional map of a car’s surroundings.

A KAIST official said it will convene a meeting of its disciplinary committee after obtaining the court’s ruling and decide whether to dismiss the professor who has been suspended due to the latest case.