South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Commerce have announced that they have blocked work computers within their ministries from accessing the DeepSeek AI tool.
This decision follows concerns raised by South Korea’s data watchdog regarding how DeepSeek collects and manages user information.
“Access to DeepSeek from our work computers has been blocked. We have strengthened security measures related to AI use and implemented necessary precautions on military personnel’s computers,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense stated.
DeepSeek AI tool raising data privacy concerns for government agencies in KoreaKorean government agencies are concerned about DeepSeek’s safety (Illustration: Getty).
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce stated it would block employee computers from accessing DeepSeek until the company responds to requests for clarification on its data monitoring and collection processes.
“We have temporarily blocked DeepSeek because the company has not yet responded to the Korea Personal Information Protection Commission’s requests regarding how DeepSeek manages and collects information,” a representative from the Ministry of Commerce said.
The Korean National Police also banned employees from accessing and using DeepSeek, while an official stated that the government is reviewing DeepSeek’s security risks before deciding whether to ban the application nationwide.
Professor Kim Jang-hyun, an AI expert from Sungkyunkwan University, believes the decision by Korean government agencies is a reasonable step.
“Whenever government employees use DeepSeek to process information, the AI’s operating company could collect data on South Korea’s policy direction,” commented Kim Jang-hyun.
“However, it remains unclear how the government can prevent its employees from accessing and using DeepSeek at home or through personal mobile devices,” Professor Kim added.
Before South Korea, governments in several other countries had also expressed concerns about DeepSeek’s safety and issued bans on the application.
Last week, the Texas state government, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Navy instructed all personnel not to install or use DeepSeek on government-issued devices to prevent the disclosure of sensitive information.
The U.S. House of Representatives stated it would assess DeepSeek’s safety before deciding whether to allow employees to use it again.
The Italian Personal Data Protection Authority (GPDP) suggested that DeepSeek could pose a high risk to the data of millions of people in the country. DeepSeek has now been removed from the Google Play Store and App Store in Italy.
In Ireland, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) has also expressed concerns about information insecurity when using DeepSeek. Consumer protection associations in France and Belgium have also called on their governments to review the safety levels of this AI tool.
Currently, two major South Korean tech companies, Samsung and SK Hynix, are collaborating with OpenAI (U.S.) and SoftBank (Japan) to form an alliance called Stargate, committing to invest $500 billion over the next four years to develop AI and counter China’s influence in the AI sector.
The Stargate project is expected to bring significant benefits to South Korea’s semiconductor industry, as Samsung and SK Hynix are key suppliers of high-end chips used in many AI server systems.
