DeepSeek disappears from South Korean app stores over privacy concerns

Nation also orders thousands of GPUs to advance local AI smarts

South Korea suspends DeepSeek, which vows to return in better shape Nation also orders enough GPUs to train many more LLMs South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission has suspended local availability of apps from Chinese LLM-and-chatbot developer DeepSeek.

The commission on Monday revealed the DeepSeek app was withdrawn from local app stores as of Saturday February 15th, after South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission determined the software breached local privacy laws. Sout Korea’s nation’s national intelligence service had already warned citizens that DeepSeek collects plenty of personal information, shares user info with advertisers, and uses all input for training purposes. The chatbot has also caused offence in South Korea by suggesting that national dish Kimchi, a fermented vegetable salad, may have Chinese origins.

Interestingly, the commission’s announcement states that a “domestic agent” representing DeepSeek has already engaged with the info protection org and “expressed the intention to actively cooperate” in discussions about changes to the app with a view to securing its return to app stores.

Before required changes can be discussed, the commission wants to make an on-site inspection of DeepSeek’s operations. South Korean authorities conducted similar probes last year at Microsoft, Google, OpenAI and three other AI operators. Those investigations wound up after five months.

The commission advised the DeepSeek investigation should be shorter, as this time around it’s investigating just the Chinese outfit.

While the investigation proceeds, citizens who have already downloaded the app or access DeepSeek online have been advised to use it cautiously and avoid entering personal information.

Several nations have banned DeepSeek from being run or accessed on government-owned devices, and Italy has banned its use outright. South Korea appears to be alone in having had it removed from app stores.

Monday was a busy one for AI-related government action in South Korea, as its Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced plans to acquire 10,000 GPUs this year, and another 8,000 in 2026, so that local researchers have access to infrastructure that helps them stay abreast of the tech.

Officials noted efforts like Europe’s planned €200 billion ($207 billion) investment in AI infrastructure, and the $500 billion Stargate project, and decided South Korea needed something similar.

South Korea’s project appears not to have a fancy name to match “Stargate”. It may also not deliver particularly fancy results, as its plans for 18,000 GPUs are modest compared to efforts like the 100,000 GPUs planned to run at Elon Musk’s X, the tens of thousands of GPUs DeepMind expects will be needed to train new models, or Meta’s 600,000 strong GPU fleet. ®