Operations remain halted for 647 government systems after data center fire

Korea Daily Digital
By Korea Daily Digital
An automated civil document issuance machine at a Seoul subway shows an error message on Saturday following a fire at National Information Resources Service in Daejeon that manages some 650 government-related systems. [YONHAP]
An automated civil document issuance machine at a Seoul subway shows an error message on September 27 following a fire at National Information Resources Service in Daejeon that manages some 650 government-related systems. [YONHAP]

The operations of 647 government systems remain completely halted after a fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon on the evening of September 26, with full recovery expected to take considerable time, officials said on September 27.

“The fire was extinguished only on the morning of September 27, and the heat inside the affected server room has yet to dissipate fully,” NIRS Director Lee Jae-yong said at a briefing in Seoul on September 27. “We have not yet begun restoration work.”

Lee added that the timeline for recovery remains uncertain.

“We will only be able to determine how long it will take once we inspect the servers and begin restarting them. It’s too early to say when services can resume.”

The fire occurred in a fifth-floor server room housing both key government servers and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries. When the HVAC system failed during the fire, the agency took preemptive action by shutting down all systems in the Daejeon center — including those not directly impacted — to prevent further damage.

Fire authorities at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon on Friday evening [KIM SUNG-TAE]
Fire authorities at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon on Friday evening [KIM SUNG-TAE]

Even unaffected equipment cannot simply be powered back on.

“The sequence, procedures, inter-agency connections — all of these are intricately linked,” Lee said. “We will need to physically enter the site and verify each system based on its specific reactivation process.”

In response to the service outages, the government has requested that related agencies extend deadlines for civil services, such as tax payments and document submissions, until after the systems are fully restored. However, no timeline has been provided for when critical services, such as postal banking and Government24, will resume.

“We are prioritizing the restoration of key services with broad public impact, including postal banking and delivery,” Vice Minister of the Interior and Safety Kim Min-jae said.

The government issued a nationwide emergency alert via text at 8 a.m. on September 27 to inform the public of the ongoing service disruptions. A public notice was also posted on the portal site Naver, directing users to currently available alternative platforms.

“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment this has caused,” Kim said. “We are doing everything we can to restore services quickly and stabilize the situation.”

BY KIM MIN-WOOK [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]

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