Naver blocks AI summary for 'Dokdo' after it identifies the islets as Japanese
Published: 30 Oct. 2025, 14:58
Updated: 30 Oct. 2025, 19:11
![An AI-generated answer displayed at the top of search results on Korea’s largest portal site Naver identifying Dokdo as Japanese territory [SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/30/a517db93-11c7-4c54-97b5-45d1f4b97520.jpg)
An AI-generated answer displayed at the top of search results on Korea’s largest portal site Naver identifying Dokdo as Japanese territory [SCREEN CAPTURE]
An AI-generated answer displayed at the top of search results on Korea’s largest portal site Naver identified Dokdo as Japanese territory, prompting a protest from Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University who is known for his efforts to protect the islets.
“I was made aware of this through a tip from a netizen,” Seo wrote on his social media account on Thursday. “If you type ‘Japanese territory’ into the Naver search bar, the AI response says, ‘Japan’s territory includes Dokdo, known as Takeshima in Japanese; the Northern Territories; and the Senkaku Islands.’”
The AI response also describes the islets' sovereignty as “currently disputed with Korea.”
“Foreign-developed AIs, including ChatGPT, often refer to Dokdo as a disputed region, and I’ve consistently raised objections to that,” Seo wrote. “It’s unacceptable that such a result was allowed to appear on the nation’s leading portal without review, especially on an issue of national significance. Naver must promptly correct this so that foreign users are not misled about Dokdo.
“For domestic and international AIs to provide accurate responses about Dokdo, we must continuously spread correct, multilingual information about the islets worldwide.”
Naver responded to the issue by saying, “We took action as soon as we became aware of it,” and stated that it would “closely review how AIB [AI briefing] results are generated to ensure they are based on more appropriate query content.”
The company added that it had blocked the AIB from appearing for that specific query starting at 8:09 a.m. on Thursday.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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