Fire at data center disrupts major government services in South Korea
Major government online services and networks remained offline Saturday following a fire at the central state data center in South Korea caused by a battery explosion, with the time for the recovery still unclear.
The fire broke out at the National Information Resources Service in the central city of Daejeon after a lithium-ion battery exploded in a computer room on the fifth floor, News.Az reports, citing Yonhap.
Officials said the explosion occurred in one of the center's uninterruptible power supply batteries while workers were disconnecting them from the servers to relocate them to the basement.
The fire left 647 online government services and systems down as of Saturday morning, including the mobile identification system and online postal service, according to officials.
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 crippled 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 under way.
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.
Firefighters were working to ventilate the building. About 200 firefighting personnel were mobilized, along with dozens of fire trucks and other equipment.
One worker handling the batteries sustained first-degree burns to the arms and face, while nearly 400 lithium-ion battery packs inside the room were destroyed in the fire.
It is widely expected to take considerable time to restore the state data center, as firefighters face difficulties entering the building due to heavy smoke and concerns about reignition, which is common in lithium-ion battery fires.
Once smoke and heat subside, firefighters plan to submerge the batteries in water before removing them from the building, officials said.
At an emergency meeting Saturday morning, Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung 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.
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