SEOUL, Feb 5 (Reuters) - South Korea's industry ministry

has temporarily banned employee access to Chinese artificial

intelligence startup DeepSeek due to security concerns, a

ministry official said on Wednesday, as the government urges

caution on generative AI services.

The government issued a notice on Tuesday calling for

ministries and agencies to exercise caution about using AI

services including DeepSeek and ChatGPT at work, officials said.

State-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said it had

blocked use of AI services including DeepSeek earlier this

month.

Tech giant Kakao Corp has told its employees to refrain from

using DeepSeek due to security concerns, a company spokesperson

said on Wednesday.

The temporary ban makes South Korea the latest government to

warn about DeepSeek.

Last month, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers called on

Australians to be cautious when using the Chinese AI model while

U.S. officials are also looking at DeepSeek's national security

implications.

South Korea's information privacy watchdog plans to ask

DeepSeek about how the personal information of users is managed.

Chinese startup DeepSeek's launch of its latest AI models

sent shockwaves through the tech world. The company says its

models are on a par or better than products developed in the

United States at a fraction of the cost.