US Pushes South Korea to Reduce Chinese Tech Reliance, Demands Market Access for US Firms

Gate News message, April 21 — Michael DeSombre, the U.S. State Department's assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, urged South Korea to reduce its reliance on Chinese technology and revise regulatory rules seen as disadvantaging U.S. companies. DeSombre cited security risks linked to Chinese tech and called for measures to address them.

The U.S. official also demanded greater regulatory clarity and fair market access for American firms including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Amazon Web Services. His remarks echoed ongoing U.S. objections to South Korea's proposed online platform rules and revised network law, which Washington views as barriers to U.S. tech companies.

South Korea's conditional approval of Google's high-definition map data transfer represents a step toward a more predictable digital market, though Seoul and Google continue to negotiate technical requirements for the data shift.