South Korea blocks DeepSeek over data concerns

South Korean ministries and police have said they were blocking DeepSeek's access to work computers after the Chinese AI startup did not respond to a data watchdog request about how it manages user information.

South Korea's police said on Thursday that they had blocked access to DeepSeek, while the trade ministry said that access had been temporarily restricted on all its PCs.

DeepSeek launched its R1 chatbot last month, claiming it matches the capacity of artificial intelligence pace-setters in the United States for a fraction of the investment, upending the global industry.

South Korea, along with countries such as France and Italy, have asked questions about DeepSeek's data practices, submitting a written request for information about how the company handles user information.

But after DeepSeek failed to respond to an enquiry from South Korea's data watchdog, a slew of ministries confirmed on Thursday they were taking steps to limit access to prevent potential leaks of sensitive information through generative AI services.

"Blocking measures for DeepSeek have been implemented specifically for military work-related PCs with Internet," a defence ministry official said.

'Implemented measures'

The ministry, which oversees active-duty soldiers deployed against the nuclear-armed North, has also "reiterated the security precautions regarding the use of generative AI for each unit and soldier, taking into account security and technical concerns," it added.

The trade ministry said it took the move as DeepSeek "has not responded to The Personal Information Protection Commission's inquiry."

The country's finance ministry also said it had "implemented measures to prohibit the leakage of personal and confidential information to DeepSeek for all employees."

Last week, Italy launched an investigation into DeepSeek's R1 model and blocked it from processing Italian users' data.

Australia has also banned DeepSeek from all government devices on the advice of security agencies.

DeepSeek has said it used less-advanced H800 chips - permitted for sale to China until 2023 under US export controls - to power its large learning model.

South Korean chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are key suppliers of advanced chips used in AI servers.