Daum Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s most popular mobile messenger Kakao Talk, said Wednesday it plans to adopt a “privacy mode” in an apparent bid to allay users’ concerns about security.

“The new privacy mode on Kakao Talk will encrypt chat records and erase received messages,” Daum Kakao said, adding that the service will be launched this year. The new feature will be available for users from all countries, it added.

Under the new feature, which uses end-to-end encryption, chat records will only be stored on each user’s smart device, making it impossible for investigators to monitor the contents.

“If a message is confirmed to have been read by a receiver, it will be deleted from the server,” Daum Kakao said. “Under privacy mode, even investigators with warrants will not be able to access the records.”

The company also said it would regularly release a so-called “transparency report” on investigators’ requests to access users’ data. Daum Kakao has said it would comply with legal requests to hand over user data. (Yonhap)