Banned Messengers

 

After two months in which people in China were unable to access the full features of Korean messaging apps KakaoTalk and Line, most services have reportedly been brought back online, aside from Kakao Story. However, services could be blocked again in the future, since the resumption of services has been reported to be due to efforts by the companies themselves rather than the Chinese government. 

According to the South Korean embassy in China and local users on August 24, it is now possible to use KakaoTalk's PC version, including the add friend feature, apart from Kakao Story. Line is also accessible via smartphones or PCs, and new memberships and one-to-one conversations are possible as well.

When asked about resumption of normal services, an official at the Korean embassy in China responded by saying, “So far, we haven’t been notified by the Chinese government.” Therefore, the service normalization can be ascribed to a technical measure taken by Kakao and Naver, companies behind those messaging apps, instead of the Chinese government. 

On July 1, prior to President Xi Jinping’s visit to Korea, the Chinese government informed the Korean government of its position, saying, "We blocked access to KakaoTalk and Line in China, since they are utilized as a method to distribute information connected with terrorism."

However, some pointed out that Beijing intentionally blocked the service to strengthen the competitiveness of Chinese mobile messengers like WeChat, because users were unable to get access to Korean messaging apps even after President Xi Jinping’s visit to Korea.

As a result, experts are saying that we should wait and see what the Chinese government will do next with regard to Korean mobile social networking services.

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