South Korea has expressed concern about a service offered by United States internet search company Google that shows satellite photos of sensitive facilities in the country, the president’s office said on Thursday.
The office said Seoul was in talks with Washington over Google Earth, a map search engine service from the site, which makes available images of South Korea’s presidential office and military facilities including air force bases and naval ports.
”As [Google’s] satellite photos are beyond our control, we are in discussion with US authorities,” said presidential spokesperson Kim Man-Soo.
He said Google Earth’s satellite photos sparked ”security concerns”.
South Korean newspapers have said the service could pose a great security threat to the copuntry, which is still technically at war with North Korea.
”It all depends on the resolution of the pictures,” a government official told Yonhap news agency.
”Just because there is a picture of a naval port does not mean the whole security system is on alert, but if the resolution is greater than six meters, security could be an issue,” he said.
After acquiring Keyhole, a company specialising in aerial maps in October last year, Google launched the service in June to offer maps of countries across the world. – Sapa-AFP