Google Starts Blurring Sensitive Areas on Maps Amid Concerns Over Exposure

▲ The area south of the Military Demarcation Line in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, displayed in a blurred image.

Google Map services have begun blurring satellite imagery of military facilities and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in South Korea, according to a report by U.S.-based North Korea specialist media outlet NK News on the 9th (local time).

According to the report, high-resolution images of dozens of military facilities and more than 400 square kilometers of South Korean territory previously available on Google Maps and Google Earth have been replaced with low-resolution images that are effectively pixelated.

Images of key security facilities, including the DMZ area south of the Military Demarcation Line, major South Korea-U.S. joint military bases, and the area around the presidential office, have been effectively obscured in this manner.

It was also confirmed that Google Maps has suspended coordinate display functions for the entire country of South Korea and parts of North Korea within about 35 kilometers north of the DMZ.

However, coordinate checking remains available on Google Earth.

This measure follows Google's acceptance of conditions set by the South Korean government in order to export high-resolution map data of South Korea to overseas servers.

Domestic law stipulates that domestic map services must obscure satellite images of military and security facilities.

Google had previously refused to apply domestic laws on the grounds that it was outside South Korea's jurisdiction by using overseas servers, but it ultimately changed its policy to secure data necessary to improve map services in South Korea.

Google announced its policy to comply with security regulations in September of last year in order to significantly improve domestic map services, including navigation functions, to compete with South Korean companies such as Naver and Kakao.

In response, the South Korean government decided on conditional approval in February of this year, and Google reportedly began map modification work starting last month.

With this measure, it is expected to become much more difficult for North Korea to acquire high-resolution images of sensitive facilities in South Korea.

However, concerns have also been raised that Google's latest changes could backfire by effectively pointing out to North Korea which areas South Korea considers the most sensitive and has therefore hidden.

North Korea could still check detailed views of these locations through data from other satellite imagery providers that do not obscure the areas or through its own future satellites.

(Photo: Google Maps screen capture, Yonhap News)

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