Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-06-06

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information Waegook collects, why, and how it is handled.

What we collect

• Account: email, nickname, optional avatar and bio, preferred language.
• Verification: for higher verification tiers, contact details (e.g. phone) and information you submit. We collect metadata only — we do not collect resident-registration numbers and do not require ID-card images.
• Content: your posts, comments, chat messages, and chat images.
• Usage/technical: IP address, browser/user-agent, and the approximate location you choose to attach to a post.
• Usage analytics: aggregate, first-party statistics about how Waegook is used (e.g. active users, sign-ins, and which pages are visited) — no third-party trackers and no advertising.
• Consent records: which policy version you accepted, with timestamp, IP, and user-agent.
• Guest requests (no account): a generated guest identifier, an optional notification email (never displayed publicly), hashed abuse-prevention signals, and the request content itself. Anonymous member posts stay linked to the member account internally.

Required vs optional

Email and nickname are required to use the service. Avatar, bio, and post location are optional. Marketing email/push consent is optional and separate from the service.

Why we collect it

• To operate the marketplace and community.
• To verify accounts and reduce fraud.
• To enable chat and discovery.
• For safety, moderation, and abuse prevention.
• To send service (transactional) messages.
• To understand and improve how Waegook is used.
• To comply with the law.

Usage analytics

We collect first-party, aggregate usage statistics to understand how Waegook is used and to improve it — for example daily active users, sign-ins, and which pages are most visited. This data is kept on our own systems and is not shared with advertisers or third-party analytics services. It does not include the content of your posts or private messages, and older analytics records are deleted automatically over time. We do not use cross-site tracking or advertising cookies.

Verification data

Verification information is stored privately, is visible only to Waegook administrators, and is used solely for verification. We avoid storing full identification numbers.

Chat images and media

Chat images are private. They are access-controlled and viewable only by the participants of that chat through a protected link, never via a public URL.

AI features (optional)

Waegook offers optional AI features that you choose to use — improving a post draft, translating a public post or a chat message, and extracting details from a job ad you paste. When you actively trigger one of these, only the specific text for that action (for example your draft, the post, or that single message) is sent to our AI provider (OpenAI) to generate the result. We do not send your passwords, verification documents, identity records, or unrelated account data, and we do not send your whole chat history. AI results are suggestions you review before anything is saved or sent — your original text is always preserved. AI is never used to decide whether a person, listing, or transaction is safe. These features can be turned off by administrators, and there is always a non-AI way to post and chat.

Service providers

We use trusted third parties to operate Waegook:

• Google and Kakao — sign-in.
• Kakao Maps — location selection.
• Brevo — transactional email.
• Cloudflare — DNS, content delivery, and email forwarding.
• OpenAI — optional AI writing and translation features (only the text you choose to run through them).
• Our hosting provider — servers and storage.
• An SMS provider may be added later for phone verification.

Cross-border processing

Some providers may process or store data outside the Republic of Korea. We use reputable providers with appropriate safeguards.

Retention

• Account data: kept until your account is deleted.
• Deactivated accounts: restorable for 30 days, after which personally identifying profile data is anonymized or deleted, except records we must keep by law.
• Posts and chats: kept until deleted or until the account is removed, subject to safety/legal needs.
• Reports, moderation, and admin audit records: retained as needed for safety and legal compliance.
• Marketing consent: kept until you withdraw it.

Your rights

Under applicable Korean privacy law (PIPA) you may request access, correction, or deletion of your data, and may withdraw consent. Contact: [email protected].

Security

Passwords are hashed, sensitive uploads are access-controlled, and we apply standard security measures. No system is completely secure.