Cris Turner, vice-president of government affairs and public policy at Google. — The Korea Herald
SEOUL: Google has reaffirmed its willingness to comply with South Korea’s stringent national security protocols as it seeks government approval to export high-precision map data – a highly sensitive issue that has sparked public and political debate in recent months.
At a rare press conference held in Seoul on Tuesday, Cris Turner, vice-president of government affairs and public policy at Google, underscored the company’s readiness to accommodate the South Korean government’s requirements, including the removal of sensitive geospatial details.
“We’ve been in close communication with the South Korean government to understand and address their concerns,” Turner said.
“As part of our commitment, we will remove latitude and longitude coordinates for places in South Korea.”
At the heart of the issue is Google’s long-standing request to export the country’s 1:5,000 scale national base map, developed by the National Geographic Information Institute.
The highly detailed map serves as the foundation for most domestic mapping services and navigation systems.
Google continues to assert that exporting maps at a 1:5,000 scale is the minimal requirement necessary to implement local navigation services in South Korea.
However, industry insiders said that the request goes beyond merely boosting tourism services.
Instead, it is widely viewed as a strategic manoeuvre to pave the way for the US tech giant’s expansion of new business ventures in South Korea, most notably involving its autonomous driving subsidiary, Waymo.
Turner emphasised that the map under review contains no classified military information and has already cleared several government security evaluations.
“This 1:5,000 base map is used by most domestic mapping services. It does not pose any threat to national security,” he added.
Despite Google’s recent concessions, many officials remain sceptical due to the company’s continued refusal to establish a local data centre.
Without domestic servers, Google is not obligated to disclose South Korean revenue figures, prompting concerns over tax transparency and regulatory oversight.
The tech giant is estimated to account for nearly 30% of South Korea’s total Internet traffic, yet pays no domestic network usage fees, a longstanding source of tension with local IT companies.
“Google’s commitment to remove coordinates is a positive step,” said a Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry official. “However, unresolved issues such as local data storage and infrastructure localistion still need to be addressed before any decision is finalised.” — The Korea Herald/ANN
