South Korea has banned new downloads of China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, according to the country's personal data protection watchdog. The government agency said the AI model will become available again to South Korean users when "improvements and remedies" are made to ensure it complies with the country's personal data protection laws.

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, according to

Per Reuters, PIPC explained that representatives from DeepSeek acknowledged the company had "partially neglected" some of its obligations under South Korea's data protection laws, which provide South Koreans some of the strictest privacy protections globally.