You open Google Maps in Seoul, search for a restaurant, and it finds it. You press directions, and the driving option is missing or useless.
Nothing is broken and nothing is misconfigured. Google does not have the data.
The actual reason
Detailed Korean map data — the 1:5,000 scale surveys that turn-by-turn navigation is built on — has not been allowed to leave the country. The restriction dates from a national security law, and the justification is that Korea remains technically at war with the North.
Google asked to export that data in 2007 and was refused. It asked again in 2016 and was refused again. Without it, Google can show you where a place is, but cannot compute a route to it the way it does everywhere else.
This is why the problem never gets fixed by reinstalling the app, changing your region, or turning on a VPN. It is not a setting.
What changed in 2026
In February 2026, after nineteen years, Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport conditionally approved the export.
The conditions are substantial. Google must process the raw data on domestic servers run by a local partner, get government clearance before any transfer abroad, and blur military and other sensitive sites. Coordinates for Korean territory stay restricted on both Maps and Earth.
It has not launched. As of the end of August 2026 there was still no turn-by-turn navigation and no announced date. Google has been building a Korean team and says it intends to bring full capability here, but approval was only the first step: it still needs better base-map data, a system to manage and update that data inside Korean law, and separate agreements with local providers covering points of interest, addresses, traffic, parking and public transport.
Treat it as coming, not arrived. If you are travelling this year, plan as though it does not exist.
What to use instead
Two apps, both free, both with English interfaces.
Naver Map has the better English and the cleaner interface for a visitor. It is the one to install if you install only one.
Kakao Map is stronger on buses — routes, stops and arrival times — which matters more outside Seoul than in it.
Install at least one before you fly. Neither requires a Korean phone number or an account for basic navigation, which is unusual for a Korean app and worth knowing given how much else here demands identity verification.
What Google Maps is still good for
Do not delete it. It remains the better tool for several things.
Finding a place by its English name, reading reviews written by other visitors, saving a list of places before you travel, and public transport routing, which generally works.
The practical pattern most visitors settle into: Google Maps to decide where to go, Naver or Kakao to actually get there.
Short version: Google Maps in Korea is a search tool, not a navigation tool. That is a legal restriction rather than a fault, it was conditionally lifted in February 2026, and it had not yet taken effect when this was written.