The head of South Korea's state data center has been relieved of duty over a massive service outage caused by a September fire. The blaze damaged servers and crippled nationwide administrative systems. Officials have booked the chief and others on charges of negligence.
On September 26, a fire broke out at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon due to an explosion of lithium-ion batteries in a server room. The blaze was extinguished the following day but damaged servers, crippling key online administrative systems nationwide, including government websites and local community center platforms. The data center is located in the central city of Daejeon, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety relieved NIRS chief Lee Jae-yong of his position in a recent personnel reshuffle, along with a high-level official who led the ministry's digital government innovation office. A ministry official said, "Director Lee has been placed on standby." The official added, "We'll do our utmost to ensure the recovery work of the system is completed without any issues."
The decision followed the booking of Lee and three other officials for causing the fire through negligence while on duty. Earlier this month, the government announced that more than 95 percent of the data center's services had been restored. The incident has highlighted vulnerabilities in national digital infrastructure, prompting discussions on enhancing public system safety.