진행자: 간형우, Chelsea Proctor

Why Google Maps is still broken in South Korea: It might not be about national security anymore

기사 요약: 국내 지도 정보를 쉽게 내어줄 수 없는 한국 정부와 업계의 입장과 복잡하게 맞물린 구글의 이해 관계

[1] 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.

dead end: 막다른 길

[2] 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?

baffling: 당황스러운

far-flung: 오지의

hermit: 은둔자

[3] For almost two decades, the issue has been blamed on national security. South Korea has strict laws that block the export of high-precision map data, supposedly to prevent misuse by hostile actors.

precision: 정확함

hostile: 적대적인

[4] 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?

wear thin: 약해지다

commercialize: 상업화하다

기사 원문: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10487791