It appears that people in China can now send messages on KakaoTalk without a separate virtual private network (VPN). It has been 11 years since the Chinese government blocked access to KakaoTalk. However, other services such as Naver blog and Cafe still appear to be unavailable locally. Kakao said it has not received any separate notice from China regarding this.
As of 10 a.m. on the 5th in Beijing, China, connecting to KakaoTalk allowed users to send messages to others without using any additional tools such as bypassing via a VPN. Not only text but also photos and videos could be sent. However, it still appeared difficult to access Naver at all. When trying to access Naver on a mobile phone that day, only a blank screen appeared.
It has been 11 years since KakaoTalk access was restored in China. Since July 2014, China has blocked domestic use of the South Korean messengers KakaoTalk and Line. At the time, the Chinese government explained that "messengers are being used as a means to distribute terror information." Starting in Oct. 2018, China blocked services such as Naver blog and Cafe, and from Jan. 2019 it also blocked the portal site Daum. As a result, Korean residents have been using separate VPNs to access the services.
However, it has not been confirmed whether the access block has been permanently lifted. Kakao said it has not received any separate contact from China. A Kakao official said that day, "There was no advance notice when access was blocked 11 years ago, and we have not received any special notice this time either."