The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy decided to block access to Deepseek, an artificial intelligence (AI) developed in China. This is due to the excessive collection of user data.
According to government officials on the 5th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Intelligence Service provided security guidelines related to generative AI to all ministries the previous day and requested that these be distributed to relevant agencies. The guidelines reportedly did not mention generative AI or instruct to block Deepseek.
However, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy blocked access to Deepseek from computers with external connections. A ministry official noted, "As a result of verification by the Personal Information Protection Commission, it was judged that how personal information entered into Deepseek is processed and how it is transferred to third parties is opaque," adding, "To protect ministry employees, access to Deepseek has been temporarily blocked."
The ministry plans to allow access once the personal information protection measures of Deepseek are strengthened and its stability is confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and its affiliated organization Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power as well as KEPCO KPS have also reportedly blocked access to Deepseek.