The heated controversy in South Korea over cyber censorship has been making a full circle from Internet firms to state authorities and political parties, with no signs of abating.

At the center of the controversy is Daum Kakao, the operator of market-dominant messaging service Kakao Talk. On Monday, it declared it will not cooperate with state investigators seeking to monitor chat records, even when they have search warrants, on the messenger platform, saying it will bear any legal responsibilities from the incompliance.