[EXCLUSIVE] Naver becomes partially available in China again

Naver, Korea's largest portal, has been made partially available again in China after its mail and search functions were blocked in May.

A person holding a cellphone with the Naver logo on screen. [SHUTTERSTOCK]

Naver, Korea's largest portal, has been made partially available again in China after its mail and search functions were blocked in May.

A source residing in Guangzhou, China, confirmed to the Korea JoongAng Daily that the portal site’s search service has returned, although with spotty connections.

When typing in the Naver website in China, a plain search bar now appears without the wide array of functions and services available in Korea, including webtoons, reservations, news, email, maps, payments, shopping and real estate brokerage.

“Results do show up with the latest information when placing a query, but overall access is super slow regardless of the internet speed,” said the source.

"Since there are no log-in icons on the page, there is no way to directly log in and access my mail service. But I can indirectly access the mail service through third-party email providers such as Microsoft Outlook. Still, it’s very inconvenient."

Naver's portal site which currently shows up in China [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A Naver spokesperson was unable to confirm the matter.

On May 22, all of the portal’s services including mail and search became unavailable, with the tech giant nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs able to pinpoint the exact reason behind the block.

Industry insiders speculate the Chinese authorities blocked access to the portal due to strict censorship rules reminiscent of China restricting imports of games and entertainment content made by Korean companies as a retaliatory action against Korea’s deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in 2016.

China’s suspension of Korean platforms started in 2014 with the message service KakaoTalk. Then Naver's online forum feature Naver Cafe and its blogs have been blocked since 2018. Another portal site Daum was closed down in 2018.

BY LEE JAE-LIM, CHO JUNG-WOO [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]