The figure accounted for 23.5% of the combined global total of 14,232 SEPs, more than six times what Korea reported in 2016 (519) to rank fifth.

The U.S. last year was second with 2,793 (19.6%), followed by Finland with 2,579 (18.1%), Japan 1,939 (13.6%) and France 1,283 (9%).

KIPO said in a statement, "The reason the number of declared SEPs surged was Samsung Electronics' intensive declaration of approximately 2,500 patents for versatile video coding and essential video coding in the second half of 2020."

Samsung reported 2,799 declared SEPs to the three authorities, the most by any company or organization in the world. Nokia of Finland came in second with 2,559 items, Thomson Licensing of France third with 907, Apple of the U.S. fourth with 350, and Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute fifth with 251.