The government and the ruling People Power Party decided Wednesday to significantly toughen punishment of conglomerates stealing ideas or technology from smaller companies, a lawmaker said.

The two sides agreed to revise relevant laws to increase the limit of punitive damages from the current three times to five times the actual amount of damages caused, Rep. Park Dae-chul of the People Power Party said after a meeting with startups and government officials.

"The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has designated it a national agenda item to eradicate technology theft from small and medium-sized enterprises," Park said. "In order to carry this out, we agreed to lay the institutional groundwork and create a social atmosphere to deal sternly with illegal acts of technology theft."

Other measures discussed include offering SMEs expert consulting on legal issues, coming up with systems that can warn of possible tech theft and help companies secure evidence, and launching a platform called the "one-stop technology safety gateway," where companies can receive integrated support from ministries. (Yonhap)