Korean Government Ministries Block Access to DeepSeek Due to Security Issues

The DeepSeek smartphone app page is displayed on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Jan. 28. AP-Yonhap

Many Korean government ministries are now blocking officials from using DeepSeek, which is a Chinese open-source language model. This move comes after rising worries about how much user data the platform collects, along with fears about possible leaks of sensitive information.

Agencies dealing with particularly sensitive details, such as the foreign affairs and defense ministries, acted quickly to enforce this ban. South Korea is following in the steps of several other nations that have already restricted access to DeepSeek for government officials. This includes outright bans on government devices, as well as warnings against its use, all driven by concerns about data collection and transmission to China.

After the Ministry of the Interior and Safety released guidelines on Tuesday that urged caution with generative artificial intelligence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy blocked access to DeepSeek the following day. Although the guidelines did not name DeepSeek directly, it's generally perceived as a reference to this AI platform.

By Thursday, more ministries—including the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Environment, and the Korean National Police Agency—joined in to restrict access. The police agency stated, "Due to security concerns surrounding DeepSeek, including the potential for personal information leaks, we have blocked access to the DeepSeek domain on official police computers starting at 7 a.m. Thursday, until its security is verified."

An official from the Ministry of Environment mentioned that DeepSeek's method of collecting data differs from that of ChatGPT, prompting the ministry to block it as a precaution against possible information leaks.

The Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of Economy and Finance plan to soon restrict access to DeepSeek, citing several technical issues raised both domestically and internationally. An official from the finance ministry commented, "The finance ministry is reviewing measures to block access to DeepSeek on PCs that can connect to external networks."

Currently, the presidential office has not blocked access to DeepSeek, clarifying that external programs were not accessible from the beginning.

As of now, the National Assembly has not imposed any ban on DeepSeek. Computers in the National Assembly operate on two different networks—internal and external—and the external network is still permitted to access AI platforms like DeepSeek.

DeepSeek has drawn security concerns from several countries due to allegations that it gathers and saves user device information, IP addresses, and even keyboard input patterns on servers located in China during its AI learning process. Countries like Australia, Japan, Taiwan, and the U.S. state of Texas have prohibited the use of DeepSeek on government-owned devices. In addition, Italy has also blocked downloads of DeepSeek from Apple and Google app stores at the end of last month.

On Jan. 31, Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission sent a formal inquiry to DeepSeek’s headquarters in China to request information regarding its data collection, processing, and storage techniques. As of now, there has been no response from the Chinese AI firm.

Korea, DeepSeek, Security