South Korea Data Center Fire Disrupts Government Services, Prompts Apology
SEOUL, South Korea – September 27, 2023 – South Korea’s Prime Minister Kim Min-seok issued a public apology today following a significant fire at a state-run data centre that has crippled hundreds of government online services.The disruption impacts critical infrastructure, including postal services and emergency response systems, leaving citizens facing delays and limited access to essential functions.
The fire broke out Friday night at the National Details Resources Service (NIRS) facility in Daejeon, approximately 150 kilometers south of Seoul.Authorities confirmed the blaze originated from a lithium battery and, while largely contained, presented significant challenges due to the concentration of the nation’s key IT systems within a single location.
Early Saturday, South Koreans received emergency alerts via text message informing them of service disruptions. Specifically, online postal services were reported as unavailable, and citizens were advised to contact emergency services (119) via phone only, as video and text-based requests were temporarily disabled.
as of Saturday morning, a total of 647 government online services remained suspended, according to the interior ministry. Affected services include the national mobile identification system,the national law information centre website,and the government’s platform for citizen complaints and petitions.
The fire triggered a failure of the data centre’s temperature and humidity control systems, raising concerns about potential server overheating and data loss. As a preventative measure, the government proactively shut down operations to safeguard its IT infrastructure.
“We are currently prioritising the restoration of the temperature and humidity-control systems, after which we will restart the servers and proceed with recovery measures,” stated Vice Minister Kim Min-jae during a press briefing.
This incident echoes a similar disruption in 2022, when a fire at a data centre caused a major outage of KakaoTalk, south Korea’s most popular messaging app, impacting over 50 million users. that event prompted calls for improved government oversight and preventative measures to protect critical digital infrastructure.
Prime minister Kim Min-seok acknowledged the inconvenience caused to citizens, stating, “There may be delays in processing civil applications or interruptions in the issuance of certificates, causing inconvenience in daily life. I extend my sincere apologies to the people for these inconveniences.”
Keywords: South Korea, data centre fire, government services, outage, emergency services, NIRS, lithium battery, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, KakaoTalk, IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, digital disruption, South Korea news.
