Seoul: Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) service DeepSeek has resumed operations in South Korea following the disclosure of a partially revised information processing policy in Korean. The service had been suspended for approximately two months since February 15 due to controversy surrounding its data management practices.
According to Yonhap News Agency, DeepSeek's revised policy comes in response to revelations by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) that the company had transferred Korean users' personal information to three companies in China and one in the United States without obtaining user consent or disclosing these transfers in its personal information processing policy. The PIPC also highlighted that DeepSeek had sent user-entered prompts to Volcano, a Chinese company affiliated with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. The commission urged DeepSeek to establish legal grounds for overseas information transfers, destroy the prompt information, and disclose its information processing policy in Korean.
In the revised policy, DeepSeek has introduced a supplementary regulation specific to South Korea, asserting that it will handle personal information in compliance with the Korean Personal Information Protection Act. An official from the PIPC stated, "DeepSeek has said it will fully comply with the Personal Information Protection Commission's disposition, and will report the results of the corrective and improvement recommendations within 60 days." The PIPC plans to monitor DeepSeek's adherence to its commitments to ensure compliance.