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NIRS unaware that two of six workers removing batteries on day of fire were subcontractors

Published: 14 Oct. 2025, 15:13

A firefighter sprays water on scorched lithium-ion batteries submerged in a fire suppression tank at the National Information Resources Service in Yuseong District, Daejeon, on the night of Sept. 27. [YONHAP]

Two of the six workers handling server and lithium-ion battery removal at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) facility on the day of a major fire last month were subcontractors — a fact unknown to NIRS at the time, according to a lawmaker’s investigation.

Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the People Power Party said Monday that a review of the duty roster from Sept. 26, the day of the fire, confirmed that four workers from Ilseong Gyejeon — the primary contractor — and two employees of its subcontractor, identified only by the initial N, were conducting battery removal and transfer work in the fifth-floor data center of the NIRS building in Yuseong District, Daejeon.

In addition to the six technicians handling the battery work, the data center had one NIRS employee, a supervisor from an inspection firm, one worker from a company overseeing the uninterruptible power supply system and five employees from a fire safety and building management company on site that day.

The key issue, according to Lee, is that NIRS was unaware two subcontractor employees were present and involved in the sensitive battery handling process. In a previous inquiry from Rep. Lee, NIRS stated that only the primary contractor, Ilseong Gyejeon, had workers present and that “no subcontractor was involved.”

However, when pressed again after Lee’s office discovered the subcontractor presence, NIRS admitted it had no knowledge of how N’s employees gained access to the facility.

“During a review of staff on duty at the time of the fire, we discovered N’s employees had been present. It appears they entered the building posing as Ilseong Gyejeon staff,” a NIRS official said.

Rep. Lee criticized the agency’s oversight, saying, “The transfer of lithium-ion batteries — a task that involves significant risk — requires strict oversight. The fact that NIRS failed to recognize the presence of unauthorized subcontractors suggests the operation was poorly managed. It also raises serious concerns about the security of access to a critical national facility.”

As of 9 a.m. Monday, 260 of the 709 government systems disrupted by the NIRS fire — or 36.7 percent — had been restored, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SON KOOK-HEE,YANG SU-MIN [[email protected]]