Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Korea vs Google: map data battle
Google has once again requested permission from the Korean government to transfer the country’s 1:5,000-scale high-precision map data to its overseas data centers. Currently, the company relies on lower-resolution 1:25,000-scale maps, alongside aerial and satellite imagery, to provide mapping services in Korea.
By Kang Seung-woo
This third request — the first since 2016 — carries added significance, coming just a month after U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, whose administration labeled the restriction as a “nontariff barrier.”
Amid Trump’s threats to impose hefty tariffs on Korea, some experts suggest that the government consider leveraging the issue of high-precision map data transfers as a barging chip in trade negotiations with Washington.
However, the matter should not be addressed solely under trade pressure. High-precision maps are critical infrastructure for emerging spatial information industries, such as autonomous driving, augmented reality (AR) and digital twins, closely linked to national security and industrial competitiveness.
If overseas transfer is allowed, Korea could run into trouble if it rejects similar requests from other global companies, raising concerns that the government could be relinquishing a strategic national asset.
In addition, with the Korean Peninsula still remaining technically at war, allowing such data to be sent abroad could pose serious national security risks, potentially exposing the locations of government facilities, military installations and other classified sites.
Google offered to comply with Korean government requests to blur sensitive security facilities on its maps. Meanwhile, the company suggested that improved Google Maps could lead as many as 6.8 million additional foreign tourists to visit Korea by 2027 and a tourism revenue increase of $22.6 billion.
It is questionable, however, that improvements to Google Maps could result in drastic increases in the number of tourists and tourism spending, especially given the existing success of domestically produced Korean content already being consumed by international visitors.
Additionally, as seen in the war between Russia and Ukraine, it's hard to predict the consequences that may result from the export of coordinate data, especially given the vast capital and cutting-edge technology involved.
Regardless, the issue puts the Korean government in an awkward position.
Google charges high fees for the use of its map application programming interface (API), which can be a significant financial burden for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises and startups. Currently, Google's API fees are reportedly up to 10 times higher than those charged by domestic providers such as Naver, Tmap and Kakao.
Previously, Google encouraged companies to build their services on its map platform at low cost, but after securing a dominant market position, it raised map API usage fees by about 14 times in 2018.
Any move to hand over the market to global platforms like Google puts the domestic geospatial information industry at risk of collapse. Core information infrastructure for future strategic industries, such as autonomous driving, logistics and smart cities, would fall into the hands of foreign companies. This is effectively relinquishing sovereignty over the geospatial information sector.
Tax issues are also a concern. Google earns trillions of won annually in Korea through services like its search engine and YouTube, yet avoids local taxes by not hosting servers in the country. Compared to domestic firms, it faces fewer regulations and contributes little in terms of reinvestment or donations. The same approach is likely for its mapping business.
The Korean government has offered to allow map data exports only if Google installs servers here, citing the risks of exposing sensitive location data. Google has refused, fueling suspicion that it aims to avoid corporate taxes, since hosting servers would establish a taxable business presence in Korea.
The Korean government is set to decide whether to allow Google to transfer Korea’s high-precision map data overseas in August.
With more than two months remaining, the government is required to take a comprehensive approach, carefully considering the long-term impact of map data exports on the industrial ecosystem and how to address issues of technological sovereignty. This should not be treated as a matter of mere technological or diplomatic convenience.
It is essential to recognize that this is a strategic issue tied directly to the innovation base of domestic startups, the competitiveness of digital platforms and ultimately, national security and control.
The writer is the business desk editor at The Korea Times.