South Korea's national data center 'froze' due to battery fire, Prime Minister had to apologize

South Korea's prime minister apologizes after a lithium battery fire at a state data center disrupted hundreds of government online services.

Fire trucks appear at the National Information Resources Agency in Daejeon city (South Korea) - Photo: YONHAP

According to AFP, local authorities in South Korea said a lithium battery fire broke out on the evening of September 26 at the National Information Resources Agency (NIA) in Daejeon, about 150km from Seoul. This is where important state information technology systems are stored.

On the morning of September 27, residents received several emergency messages from the government, warning that some post office online services had been shut down due to the fire. Residents were also informed that emergency 119 calls could only be made by phone, not by video or text.

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min Seok has apologized for the incident.

"Because the country's key IT systems are concentrated in one facility, firefighting is difficult. There may be delays in processing administrative records or interruptions in issuing documents, causing inconvenience to daily life. I would like to sincerely apologize to the people for these inconveniences," he said.

According to the Ministry of the Interior of South Korea, as of the morning of September 27, 647 online government services were suspended due to the fire. These include the mobile identification system, the website of the National Legal Information Center, and the government's platform for receiving complaints and petitions.

The fire caused the facility's temperature and humidity control systems to fail, raising concerns about overheating of servers. The government was forced to shut down operations to protect its information technology systems, the Interior Ministry said.

"We are currently prioritizing restoring the temperature and humidity control system, then restarting the server and carrying out recovery measures," Vice Interior Minister Kim Min Jae told reporters.

In 2022, more than 50 million users of Kakaotalk, South Korea's largest mobile messaging app, suffered a major service disruption after a fire at a data center. The company apologized for the incident and called on the government to direct prevention plans.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/trung-tam-du-lieu-quoc-gia-han-quoc-dung-hinh-do-chay-pin-thu-tuong-phai-xin-loi-20250927095940776.htm