The nation’s online portal giant Naver bowed to mounting public pressure and announced on Wednesday that it would withdraw from the real-estate business.

Naver, the nation’s largest search engine operator, had been criticized for having expanded its business to online information services markets including shopping and real estate.

In particular, the company’s real estate information service, which was launched in 2009, was accused of dealing a serious blow to online real estate agencies that provided information to the portal.

The agencies saw their sales drop by about 36 percent, according to news reports.

Naver officials said the company would have a limited role as a platform provider for online real estate agencies.

They said reform of the real estate service would be decided after meetings with the information providers such as Real Estate 114.

The decision came less than two weeks after Naver CEO Kim Sang-hun said his company would seek co-prosperity with small and medium-sized market players.

Speaking at a news conference, CEO Kim Sang-hun announced a road map to pave the way for a “fair” Internet business environment.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)