South Korea¡¯s Korean Daily on Monday that after the fire at the National Institute of Information Resources Administration in Atacama, society continued to raise concerns about battery safety.At the same time, data showed that the gap between China and Korea in the number of patent applications related to the prevention of battery explosions has increased to more than twice.The report said that although China lagged behind South Korea more than a decade ago, with active R&D investment, it has now been significantly leading in patent competition.

At present, China relies on iron phosphate lithium batteries, has replaced South Korea's leading position in the global battery market. There is a view that if South Korea's explosion prevention technology in the field of originally competitive lithium-ion batteries is also overtaken by China, the "K battery" (referring to South Korea's battery) industry will face a serious impact in the future.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Intellectual Property of South Korea to National Power Party member Li Zhejiang, as of 2014, South Korea ranks first in the world in terms of patent applications related to the prevention of battery explosions (173 applications). But since 2015, China (231 applications) overtook South Korea (121 applications), the pattern has reversed. The latest statistics show that the number of relevant patent applications in China in 2023 reached 2195 applications, about 1.8 times that of South Korea (1219 applications). According to the calculation of the cumulative application ratio for the 20 years from 2004 to 2023, China accounted for 48.9%, South Korea for 24.3%, the gap is significant.

The report mentioned that in the budget of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources for next year, battery-related research and development will be 44.6 billion won (about 220 million yuan). In this regard, Lee Zhegui said,"While battery explosion accidents such as fires at the National Information Resources Administration directly caused huge national losses, the current advantages in the field of battery fire and safety-related technologies have been handed over to China." The South Korean government should regain the competitiveness of the Korean battery industry through a customized support strategy for fire and safety-related technical areas.