Government Confirms Google’s Compliance With Security Conditions for Exporting High-Precision Maps... Follow-Up Oversight to Continue

[Financial News] The government has confirmed compliance with the security conditions imposed on Google’s permit to export high-precision maps overseas. Restrictions on displaying coordinates within South Korean territory in Google Maps and Google Earth have been implemented, and the government will continue to monitor follow-up processes, including replacing imagery secured by the government and exporting data processed domestically.
The Council on the Overseas Export of Basic Surveying Results, composed of relevant ministries and agencies and private-sector experts, met on the 13th and received a report on compliance with the security conditions attached to Google’s permit, granted on February 27, to export 1:5,000-scale map data overseas. Google submitted its final report on the 4th, covering coordinate displays, imagery security processing, data processing and security incident response procedures.
The council said that the removal of latitude and longitude coordinates for South Korean territory and restrictions on their exposure had both been implemented across Google Maps and Google Earth’s global services on the internet and on Android and iOS mobile devices. Google developed a dedicated control layer for South Korean territory and established a system to block app releases if coordinate exposure is detected during an update.
A supply contract with a domestic partner company was signed on August 31 for imagery security processing. Once the partner company delivers imagery secured by the National Geographic Information Institute, Google must immediately add it to its service without making any changes.
Google is not directly provided with full details of military and security facilities, including their locations and areas. Instead, only imagery that the government has finished securing is supplied, preserving the confidentiality of facility information and controlling the scope of processing.
Google currently uses commercial satellite imagery from overseas and temporarily obscures facilities it has identified itself. It has applied the same measure to historical time-series imagery in Google Earth. Replacing the imagery with government-processed versions will also obscure some facilities that have not yet been obscured.
Google has removed Street View imagery from inside facilities it secured itself and from roads within 50 meters of their boundaries. Once domestically processed imagery is provided, it also plans to remove Street View imagery from inside and around all military and security facilities.
Map data is processed on domestic servers by a domestic partner company and then supplied. The data is limited to the base map and the traffic network information specified in the permit conditions, including road networks, road names, number of lanes, speed limits and road geometry. Google must incorporate the data without changing its terrain features.
Google will designate the president of Google Korea as its dedicated mapping officer in Korea and establish a 24-hour response system to handle government requests. If the government requests action over violations of laws or standards, such as the exposure of security facilities, the officer will immediately file the request with the headquarters response team and ensure that action is completed within one business day of receipt.
Google reported that it would take emergency measures, such as modifying areas subject to security processing, in national security emergencies including large-scale natural disasters and armed conflicts. It also said it had developed technical measures to disable specific functions in consultation with the government.
The council plans to continue monitoring the export of domestically processed imagery and data, whether coordinate restrictions remain in place, and the operation of the security incident response system. If serious noncompliance with the conditions is confirmed, it plans to suspend or revoke the permit.
The government explained that Google is now obligated to comply with relevant domestic laws when using map and imagery data in Korea, and that domestic legal procedures, including corrective orders, may be applied to it as they are to domestic industry. The council assessed that this could mitigate security vulnerabilities identified in existing services.
[email protected] Choi Ga-young Reporter