SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government has turned down U.S. tech giant Apple Inc.'s request to take high-precision map data out of the country, citing security issues, a government official said Monday.
Apple has sought permission for data on a Korean map with a scale of 1:5,000 from the National Geographic Information Institute, a state-run organization under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation, but its petition was rejected on Feb. 16, according to the official from the land ministry.
"It was largely because of security issues," the ministry official said. The exportation of 1:25,000 scaled map data has been allowed so far, but that of higher precision maps is not allowed."
In the past, Google has asked the South Korean government to let it send the map data overseas several times, but its requests have been turned down.
High-precision map data is considered essential for next-generation wireless services like autonomous driving, augmented reality and virtual reality.
Apple did not give any comment on the decision.