[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Namgung Hoon and Hong Euntaek, co-CEOs of Kakao, apologized for the ongoing access disruptions across Kakao services caused by the fire at the SK C&C Pangyo Data Center. Currently, Kakao has begun splitting and backing up all data to other domestic data centers and has started server diversification measures to respond to the outage.
On the 15th, the two co-CEOs stated through a notice on the portal 'Daum', "We sincerely bow our heads and apologize to all users who are experiencing inconvenience due to service disruptions of Kakao services including KakaoTalk, Daum, Kakao T, and Kakao Pay caused by the data center fire."
They added, "Kakao is currently making every effort to restore services as quickly as possible, and we promise to thoroughly investigate the cause of this incident and take all possible measures to prevent recurrence."
The Kakao service disruption began around 3:30 PM on the same day when a fire broke out at the SK C&C Pangyo Data Center where Kakao is housed. Due to this fire, power supply to the area containing Kakao’s equipment was cut off, resulting in service outages.
Although the fire has been extinguished by the fire authorities, power supply to the data center cannot be immediately restored for safety reasons, delaying the resolution of the outage.
Currently, KakaoTalk’s mobile functions are not operational, and the PC version is also unavailable. Affiliate services requiring KakaoTalk account login, such as KakaoT, Kakao Pay, and Kakao Bank, are also inaccessible.
The two co-CEOs explained, "All data is being split and backed up across multiple domestic data centers, and we have a dual system to respond to outages caused by external circumstances. Immediately after the fire occurred, Kakao recognized the situation and began applying the dual system measures."
They noted, "However, it is an unusual situation for an entire data center to be affected as in this case, and applying these measures is taking longer than expected."
They further stated, "In the future, even if such incidents occur, we will strengthen various technical recurrence prevention measures to minimize inconvenience and enable users to quickly use services as usual."
Meanwhile, the data center fire affected not only Kakao but also some Naver services. Naver’s customer center announced in the afternoon through a 'Partial Service Network Error Notice' that "due to network environment impact, some services are experiencing errors, and we are urgently identifying causes and responding," adding, "We are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible."
Naver Shopping also stated in an emergency notice, "Due to the Pangyo IDC fire, some shopping service searches are experiencing disruptions," and "Recovery is underway." The affected services include books, Smart Store, and shopping vertical services.
Additionally, Naver Shopping Live experienced errors from 4 PM, including inability to access detailed pages and make purchases, and the Papago service was also restricted.
Below is the full apology statement from Kakao co-CEOs Namgung Hoon and Hong Euntaek.
Hello, this is Kakao co-CEOs Namgung Hoon and Hong Euntaek. We sincerely apologize and bow our heads to all users experiencing inconvenience due to service disruptions of Kakao services including KakaoTalk, Daum, Kakao T, and Kakao Pay caused by the data center fire that occurred today. Kakao is currently making every effort to restore services as quickly as possible, and we promise to thoroughly investigate the cause of this incident and take all possible measures to prevent recurrence. First, we would like to explain the cause of this outage. Around 3:30 PM on October 15, a fire broke out at the SK C&C Pangyo Data Center where Kakao is housed. Due to this fire, power supply to the area where Kakao’s equipment is located was cut off, resulting in service outages. Thanks to the prompt action of the fire authorities, the fire has been extinguished, but for safety reasons, it is difficult to immediately restore power to the data center, causing delays in resolving the outage. Kakao immediately recognized this and is taking the best possible measures to restore services using other data centers. Kakao splits and backs up all data across multiple domestic data centers and has a dual system to respond to outages caused by external circumstances. Immediately after the fire occurred, Kakao recognized the situation and began applying the dual system measures. However, it is an unusual situation for an entire data center to be affected as in this case, and applying these measures is taking longer than expected. Kakao will clearly identify the cause of this fire and communicate it to the data center operator currently housing our equipment to reconfirm safety inspections and accident prevention measures. Furthermore, even if such incidents occur in the future, we will strengthen various technical recurrence prevention measures to minimize inconvenience and enable users to quickly use services as usual. We apologize once again for the delay in recovery and will do our best to restore services to normal as soon as possible.
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