SEOUL, October 05 (AJP) - Ten days after a massive fire crippled South Korea's main government data network, 132 of the 647 affected information systems have been restored, including 22 top-priority platforms, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on October 5, 2025.
As of 6 a.m. Sunday, the overall recovery rate stood at 20.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous day. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said that the partial restoration of OnMail, the official email system for government employees, and the mobile government ID app will help improve work efficiency across public offices.
The fire broke out on September 26, 2025, at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon, which houses South Korea's central data and cloud infrastructure. The blaze began in a fifth-floor server room containing lithium-ion batteries and burned for nearly 22 hours before it was extinguished.
The incident paralyzed 647 administrative and information systems, including key public services such as the National Veterans Affairs system, the Government Legislation Information Center, and the national complaint portal. The G-Drive, a shared storage system used by civil servants, was also completely destroyed. Officials confirmed that the system had no backup, making recovery impossible.
More than 500 personnel from public agencies and private firms have been deployed for recovery efforts. However, the pace has been slow as damaged systems must be rebuilt or relocated to a government–private cloud center in Daegu.
The fire has also reignited debate about the safety of energy storage systems (ESS), which are often used in large facilities like data centers to stabilize the power supply. Lawmakers have called for stronger oversight and more comprehensive safety management to prevent similar incidents.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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