SEOUL (Reuters) – The South Korean Data Protection Authority said on Monday that downloads from the Deepseek application were suspended in the country, after the Chinese firm admitted not to have taken into account part of the regulations local protection of personal data.
Access to the artificial intelligence application will be restored as soon as improvements have been made in accordance with the South Korean data protection law, said the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC).
Coming into force on Saturday, the measure aims to prevent new downloads from the Deepseek application. The service remains accessible via the Internet, she said.
According to the PIPC, the Chinese firm named legal representatives in South Korea last week and acknowledged having partially neglected the local data protection law.
No comments were immediately obtained from Deepseek.
A similar measure had been taken last month in Italy, where the regulator ordered Deepseek to block access to his chatbot for not responding to authorities concerns about privacy.
(Hyunsu yim; Jean Terzian)
Copyright © 2025 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
