Regulators said they would suspend the app until they could be sure it complied with the country’s data protection laws.

PIPC investigation division director Nam Seok is quoted by the Associated Press as saying DeepSeek "lacked transparency about third-party data transfers and potentially collected excessive personal information." DeepSeek reportedly has dispatched a representative to South Korea to work through any issues and bring the app into compliance.

DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has temporarily paused downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea while it works with local authorities to address privacy concerns, South Korean officials said Monday.