The National Tax Service terminated the business registration of homegrown social networking service Cyworld on May 26, according to industry sources on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the ICT Ministry said that Cyworld has not made a report to the NTS of a business termination and that it had expressed willingness to continue the business to the ministry.

According to the Telecommunications Business Act, such an internet business is required to report to the ICT Ministry at least 30 days before permanently shuttering.

The ICT Ministry added that it is currently looking into the case to figure out the circumstances.

Cyworld was once the biggest social media site here, with 25 million users. But the service began to lose appeal against the backdrop of expansions of foreign platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The service’s domain will be terminated on Nov. 21 this year.

By Shim woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)