South Korea: Recovery reaches 27.2 per cent after state data centre fire

Seoul, Oct 9 (IANS) Two weeks after a fire broke out at a major state data centre, 27.2 per cent of the government's online services have been restored, authorities said Thursday.

As of 6 am, 193 out of a total of 709 online administrative services affected by last month's fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in the central city of Daejeon had been brought back online, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, Yonhap News Agency reported.

On Thursday, the government finalized the tally of affected services at 709, up from the previously estimated 647, after restoring its internal management system for online government services, known as nTOPS.

Among the services restored during the extended Chuseok holiday this week is On-Nara Document 2.0, an electronic document management system that enables public officials to process tasks in real time, including drafting, approval, transmission and archiving of public documents.

"The government will work to address the difficulties faced by those on duty and establish a sustainable recovery system through additional manpower support and other measures," Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung said during a meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

The fire began when a lithium-ion battery exploded in a server room at the NIRS on September 26 and was completely extinguished the following day, officials said.

Earlier on October 3, South Korean government said that it will speed up the restoration of online government services affected by last week's fire at the state data management agency during the extended Chuseok holiday.

South Korea's Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung made the remarks during a government meeting, a week after the fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul, caused a massive systems outage, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"The government will accelerate the restoration with exceptional determination, while treating the seven-day holiday as golden time for recovery," he said during the meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. "The government will respond thoroughly to ensure no gaps in administrative services and safety management during the holiday."

The seven-day break, which covers Chuseok, National Foundation Day and Hangeul Day, began on October 3 and runs till October 9.

Yun said the government is in talks with the presidential office and the financial authorities to secure reserve funds for the NIRS' restoration and relocation of damaged systems to an NIRS branch in the southeastern city of Daegu.

"Normalising computer network failures is expected to take time," he said. "We plan to select key systems directly related to people's everyday lives and come up with separate management systems for them."

--IANS

akl/as