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Why Google Maps is still broken in South Korea: It might not be about national security anymore
It’s 2025, and if you try to get walking directions in Seoul using Google Maps, you will still run into the same dead end: the "Can't find a way there" screen. For many tourists, it’s both frustrating and baffling. Google Maps offers turn-by-turn walking directions in cities as far-flung as Pyongyang, the capital of the hermit kingdom of North Korea — yet, in Seoul, one of the most digitally advanced cities in the world, it can’t guide you from your hotel to the nearest subway station? For almos
But in 2025, that argument is wearing thin, and a more fundamental tension is coming into focus: Should Google be allowed to freely commercialize taxpayer-funded public data without meeting the standards that domestic companies must follow? South Korea’s location-based services market is worth over 11 trillion won ($7.6 billion) according to 2023 Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport data, with over 99 percent of companies in the space being small or mid-sized. Despite launching a multilingual version back in 2018, Naver Map only began expanding foreign-language support for place filters and business info like opening hours and amenities in October.
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