Daejeon: A fire at a major state data center in Daejeon halted 647 government services simultaneously, effectively paralyzing the state administration.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the National Information Resources Service (NIRS), under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, provides 1,600 government services online, and more than a third were down due to a fire in a computer room at its headquarters.

Restoration of the 96 systems damaged or destroyed by the fire is expected to take considerable time. This incident is not unprecedented, as similar disruptions occurred in November 2023 due to a faulty router port. This time, the fire hindered nearly all administrative services, revealing a significant vulnerability in national security. The incident underscores the inadequacy of the current emergency preparedness measures, raising questions about the effectiveness of annual Ulchi drills meant to prepare officials for national emergencies.

The fire was likely caused by the explosion of a lithium-ion battery that subcontracted employees attempted to move for replacement. The batteries, integral to the uninterruptible power supply system, were installed in August 2014 and were past their 10-year service life. Investigations are required to determine whether the incident resulted from battery obsolescence, an error during unplugging, or another technical fault.

Experts pointed out that the lack of data center redundancy was a key reason why services could not be restored quickly. Although NIRS claims to have data backed up at two regional branches, there is no emergency system to manage backup data efficiently. Consequently, the nation faces uncertainty regarding when the disrupted services will resume, further compounded by the challenge of retrieving data lost in the fire before being backed up.

The government attributes the absence of an emergency system to funding constraints, a claim that appears inconsistent given the substantial financial resources allocated to public cash handouts. The incident mirrors a similar event in October 2022 when a lithium-ion battery fire at KakaoTalk’s data center disrupted services. Despite urging private businesses to secure cloud servers for redundancy, the government failed to implement analogous measures for its operations.

The administration claims to have systems capable of restoring online services within three hours in a disaster, but the current situation suggests otherwise. The lack of a redundancy system for backup data in emergencies has exposed vulnerabilities in the government’s digital infrastructure. This incident should prompt a comprehensive review and enhancement of the state’s digital network to ensure high-level redundancy and secure the continuity of government functions.

The government must use this incident as a catalyst to strengthen its digital infrastructure, aligning with its ambitious blueprint for the world’s best digital government, which the recent fire has critically challenged.