Key facts
- South Korea's government said Google removed Korean territory coordinates from Google Maps and Google Earth, per an inter-agency press release.
- Street View imagery inside and around all military and security facilities on South Korean territory will also be deleted, the press release said.
- The government said it would suspend or revoke the permit if serious breaches of the conditions occurred.
- Google must rely on domestic partners for security-processed imagery and load it without modification, per the government press release.
- Yonhap reported, citing industry sources, that Google chose TMAP Mobility to process base map data for its local map service.
South Korea's government said on November 13, 2026 that Google has removed latitude and longitude coordinates for South Korean territory from Google Maps and Google Earth. The step is one of the security conditions attached to a permit granted in February to export high-precision map data, according to an inter-agency press release.
The February approval reversed a stance Seoul had held for about two decades. South Korea rejected Google's requests in 2007 and 2016, citing the risk that information on sensitive military and security facilities could be exposed.
The press release said Google Street View imagery inside and around all military and security facilities on South Korean territory will also be deleted. The government said it would suspend or revoke the permit if serious breaches of the conditions occurred.
Google is required to rely on domestic partners for security-processed imagery and must load it without modification, according to the press release. Yonhap News Agency reported, citing industry sources, that Google has chosen South Korean navigation company TMAP Mobility to process base map data for its local map service. Google is expected to use data that TMAP processes on domestic servers to government security standards from as early as next year, Yonhap said.
The cooperation is limited to static information such as roads, buildings and addresses, and excludes TMAP users' personal data, real-time location and driving routes. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.