South Korean president apologizes for data center fire

A fire at the National Information Resources Agency (NIA) data center in Daejeon city has severely disrupted hundreds of South Korea's online public services, exposing vulnerabilities in the digital infrastructure that is considered one of the world's leading.

Public service dispensing machines in South Korea stopped working after a fire at a data center, forcing people to go directly to process procedures. (Source: The Korea Times)

As of Monday morning, only 62 of the 647 affected systems had been restored. Key agencies such as the Korea Customs Service, the National Police Agency and the National Fire Agency were affected. Many government websites, including the Ministry of Safety, were still down.

“We are seeing services being restored hour by hour,” Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung said at a press conference. “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by the outage.”

“As the working week begins, demand for services will increase and the inconvenience may worsen. I urge ministries and local authorities to coordinate measures to minimize disruption,” he warned.

President apologizes, calls for system reform

President Lee Jae-myung has publicly apologized to the people and criticized the lack of contingency plans after similar incidents occurred in 2023. He asked ministers to propose a budget to build an emergency system to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“Such disruptions should never happen at a national agency. Real-time synchronization and recovery systems should be implemented as soon as possible,” said Professor Lee Seong-yeob of the Graduate School of Technology Management at Korea University.

“The government should have been aware of the need for higher levels of contingency planning, but it seems they were complacent,” he added.

South Korean Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung bows in apology during a disaster response meeting on September 29. (Source: EPA/Yonhap)

Suspected battery explosion causing fire

According to the initial investigation, the fire may have originated from a battery manufactured by LG Energy Solution that exploded during maintenance. The battery was more than a decade old and expired its warranty last year. LG CNS – the maintenance unit – had recommended a replacement during a routine inspection in June 2024, but it had not been carried out.

LG Energy Solution declined to comment, saying the incident was under investigation.

At the Dongdaemun community service center in Seoul, people lined up from early morning to handle procedures that are usually done online.

“I came to pick up my graduate school application, which I would normally do online. Having to come in person delayed my schedule,” said Kim, 25.

Kim Doo-han, 74, also had to cancel his plans to apply for real estate documents: “The community center was operating normally when I went, but this incident has shaken my faith in government services.”

Even government employees are confused. One official said he had to manually note down services that were not yet available, such as overseas residency registration and permanent resident identification cards.

Minh Hoan

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/tong-thong-han-quoc-xin-loi-ve-vu-chay-trung-tam-du-lieu-ar968286.html