Daejeon: Prime Minister Kim Min-seok on Saturday apologized for government service disruptions following a fire at a state-run data center and vowed to restore affected services quickly.

According to Yonhap News Agency, a fire broke out at the national data infrastructure center in the central city of Daejeon on Friday, leaving one injured and halting hundreds of online government services. The lithium battery fire erupted at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon at about 8:20 p.m. on Friday and was brought under control early Saturday morning.

Due to the fire, 647 online government services, including the mobile identification system and the online government platform for complaints and petitions, have been suspended. “I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by the service malfunction,” Kim said, adding the government will work to restore affected services.

The prime minister stated that deadlines for tax payments and other obligations will be extended to minimize any inconvenie
nce.