South Korea’s government has brought back 91 online services after a major fire disrupted operations at its national data center last week. Officials announced the update on Tuesday, saying the restoration covers about 14.1% of the 647 affected services.
The blaze hit the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) building in Daejeon, roughly 140 kilometers south of Seoul, on Friday. It started in server room 7-1 on the fifth floor when a lithium-ion battery exploded. The fire destroyed 96 systems there and spread to nearby rooms, damaging a total of 330 systems—over half of the facility’s setup. Firefighters fully extinguished it by Saturday, and now police are investigating the exact cause.
In a briefing from Sejong, Vice Interior Minister Kim Min-jae shared good news: teams reactivated systems on the second, third, and fourth floors since the fire mainly hit the top level. Among the fixes, 20 out of 36 top-priority “Grade 1” services are back online. These are the essential ones that serve the most people and have the biggest impact.
Kim noted that checks at local offices show little chaos for everyday tasks. With the main government portal Gov.kr up and running again, plus unmanned machines for civil applications, popular services like resident registration, seal certificates, and passport requests are handling demand smoothly—though some glitches remain.
That said, online tools for real estate deals and social security info still face issues. The government promises regular updates on fixes and workarounds. They plan to release the full list of the 647 hit services soon, along with detailed recovery steps.
Full restoration will take at least four weeks, longer than the original two-week estimate. That’s because crews need time to move the 96 ruined systems to a NIRS backup site in Daegu, in the southeast. Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung stressed during a disaster headquarters meeting: “Above all, we will conduct the recovery work transparently.”
To ease headaches before the extended Chuseok holiday kicks off Friday, officials prioritized high-demand fixes. That includes postal and banking services from the national post office, plus the key Gov.kr portal for government applications.
The outage has spotlighted the risks of data center fires in South Korea, but quick action has limited the fallout for citizens relying on digital government services.
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in world News on Latest NewsX. Follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter(X), Gettr and subscribe our Youtube Channel.
