Government to focus on restoring crippled state online services after data center fire
Published: 28 Sep. 2025, 12:47
![Firefighters submerge lithium-ion batteries in water while extinguishing a fire at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon, some 160 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Sept. 27. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/09/28/d46e7816-512a-4c55-ae46-45c658433146.jpg)
Firefighters submerge lithium-ion batteries in water while extinguishing a fire at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon, some 160 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Sept. 27. [YONHAP]
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety held a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarter and decided to focus on repairing the affected network equipment by Sunday to normalize key services directly tied to people's daily lives and the economy.
"We apologize for causing great inconvenience to the public by delaying civil applications and the issuance of certificates," Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung said.
The central disaster headquarters said when the fire broke out at the National Information Resources Service in the central city of Daejeon, the government shut down 647 online systems, including the mobile identification system and online postal service.
Of the affected services, 436 are public programs and 211 are intranet systems for government officials. A total of 96 systems were directly damaged by the fire, it added.
The blaze began at 8:15 p.m. Friday when a lithium-ion battery exploded in a computer room on the fifth floor of the Daejeon center.
Officials said the explosion occurred in one of the center's uninterruptible power supply batteries while workers were disconnecting them from servers to relocate them to the basement.
The flames were completely extinguished at 6 p.m. Saturday, some 22 hours after the outbreak, authorities said.
Firefighters faced difficulties entering the building due to heavy smoke and concerns about reignition, which is common in lithium ion battery fires.
They submerged the batteries in water after removing them from the building, officials said.
The police and fire authorities will examine the exact cause of the fire and the extent of the damage.
Vice Interior Minister Kim Min-jae said the government suspended operations as a "preemptive" measure to safeguard the systems after the fire caused temperature and humidity control malfunctions that can lead to overheating.
"The temperature and humidity control equipment is currently being repaired. Once this is complete, the government plans to bring the servers back online to restore the services," Kim said at a press conference, adding that critical services like postal and financial services will be restored first.
The disruptions paralyzed the location-tracking function of the 119 emergency rescue service, the online official document issuance service and the pan-government intranet, Onnara System, leaving government officials unable to access the online administration systems.
The websites of major government bodies, including the office of the prime minister and the interior and finance ministries, also remain inaccessible.
The disruptions are believed to have paralyzed nearly one-third of the government's total online information systems.
Citizens reported inconveniences caused by the service disruptions. A 53-year-old, surnamed Lee, attempted to make a payment with a debit card issued by Korea Post at a convenience store in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, but found it did not work.
Others also said that the money transfer service on Korea Post financial accounts was unavailable.
Also, some transportation services are affected by the limited state online service.
Those who have discounted tickets for buses, trains and airplanes have to carry their identification cards to use the transportation services.
Vice Minister Kim said impending tax payment deadlines and official document submissions will be postponed until after the restoration of the suspended state services to prevent any damage from the disruptions.
He also advised citizens to visit government offices in person or use alternative websites provided by the government to access official services while restoration is underway.
Nearly 10 hours after the breakout, the main blaze of the fire had been brought under control as of 6:30 a.m., but it partly reignited later in the morning.
About 200 firefighting personnel were mobilized, along with dozens of fire trucks and other equipment.
One worker handling the batteries suffered first-degree burns to the arms and face, while nearly 400 lithium-ion battery packs inside the room were destroyed in the fire.
At an emergency meeting Saturday morning, Interior Minister Yun raised the crisis management level for government information systems from "alert" to "serious."
"The government will mobilize all available resources to resolve this incident as quickly as possible while doing its best to minimize inconveniences to the public," Yun said.
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok apologized for the service disruptions, saying the government will work to restore the affected services.
Industry sources said the possibility of data loss from the fire is slim, as the state data center has a four-stage backup system and a disaster recovery system in operation to ensure regular data backups.
Jung Chung-rae, chair of the ruling Democratic Party, has instructed party officials to devise measures to support the government in addressing the online service disruptions.
"I have instructed [...] officials to closely discuss support measures at the party level to help the government establish thorough countermeasures," Chung wrote on his Facebook account.
The main opposition People Power Party criticized the incident as a "man-made disaster," calling for a thorough investigation into its cause and accountability for those responsible.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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