Seoul: The government announced the temporary suspension of the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek, citing concerns over its data collection practices.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Personal Information Protection Commission halted the app's local service at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The suspension will remain in place until DeepSeek addresses these issues in compliance with South Korea's personal information protection laws.

This decision follows actions by several government ministries and agencies, which had already restricted internal access to the AI service due to apprehensions regarding the startup's data management.

The commission recently issued a formal inquiry to DeepSeek, requesting detailed information on its data collection and management processes. In response, DeepSeek has appointed a representative in South Korea and admitted to not fully considering local protection laws. The company has also expressed its willingness to cooperate with the commission to resolve these issues.