South Korea: Despite the news surfacing of the South Korean govt. to disapprove Google’s request to allow it to carry government-supplied detailed map data outside of the country, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) interfered in the affairs. And according to the industry sources, it would create trade disputes between the governments depending on the South Korean government’s decision.
Industry sources pointed out that the USTR’s excessive intervention, saying, “Those who has so far opposed to Google‘s attempt to export South Korea’s map data say that the government should not hand over the map data, which has been updated with several tens of billion won of taxpayers’ money every year, to a foreign company without fair rewards. They also say that we should think about whether it is a matter for the USTR, though it is closely related to the national security.”
According to the Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee of the National Assembly on August 22, officials from the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held a video conference on the 18th with the USTR officials to exchange opinions about exporting map data.
During the closed-door video conference, the USTR is said that it requested the South Korean government to allow Google to carry map data out of the country. An official from the National Assembly’s Science, ICT Future Planning, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee said, “Due to Google’s request to lift restrictions on exporting map data, the video conference was held between government officials and the USTR all of a sudden.”
Earlier this year, the USTR criticized through “National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers” that the South Korean government restrictions on exporting location-based data, including maps, put foreign service providers, like Google, at an unfair disadvantage in competition. The latest movement of the USTR hints that the global search giant’s request for a map data license can be expanded to various trade conflicts, including the possibility of renegotiation of South Korea-U.S. FTA, in the future, according to industry watchers.
