South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission said DeepSeek's apps were removed from the local versions of Apple's App Store and Google Play and that the company agreed to work with the agency to strengthen privacy protections before relaunching the apps.
The action does not affect users who have already downloaded DeekSeek on their phones or use it on personal computers.
Nam Seok, director of the South Korean commission's investigation division, advised South Korean users of DeepSeek to delete the app from their devices or avoid entering personal information into the tool until the issues are resolved.
Many South Korean government agencies and companies have either blocked DeepSeek from their networks or prohibited employees from using the app amid worries that it was gathering too much sensitive information.
South Korea's Ministry of Finance and Environment announced two weeks ago it was blocking DeepSeep, joining the ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defence and Economy, Trade and Industry.
The South Korean privacy commission, which began reviewing DeepSeek's services last month, found the company lacked transparency about third-party data transfers and potentially collected excessive personal information.
Nam said the commission did not have an estimate on the number of DeepSeek users in South Korea.
A recent analysis by Wiseapp Retail found DeepSeek was used by about 1.2 million smartphone users in South Korea during the fourth week of January, emerging as the second-most-popular AI model behind ChatGPT.
DeepSeek has revolutionised the global AI landscape after its latest language model was unveiled last month, impressing experts with its more efficient and cost-effective performance compared to the US competition.
However, its data management has led countries such as Italy and Australia to further analyse the service and impose access restrictions on public institutions, citing risks to national security.
with EFE
