"'Kakao Outage' Government and Ruling Party to Hold Meeting to Address Issues"

Joo Ho-young "Need for Measures to Prevent Kakao's Octopus-like Monopoly"

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the Emergency Response Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 17th and delivering an opening remark.

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Kwon Hyun-ji] The ruling party announced on the 17th that it will soon hold a party-government meeting to address the 'Kakao outage' incident and supplement the issues. They also pointed out that Kakao has been expanding its business in an 'octopus-like' manner and emphasized the need to establish measures to prevent monopolies.

Seong Il-jong, the Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, stated at the emergency committee meeting on the 17th, "The primary cause of the Kakao outage was a fire in the underground power facility, but the more fundamental cause was the lack of a perfect redundancy system."

He pointed out, "KakaoTalk, with 47 million users, is the national messenger used by the majority of South Korean citizens. Although it is a service operated by a private company, it essentially has the nature of a public good, and thus carries corresponding responsibilities."

He added, "First, an accurate identification of the cause must be prioritized. And to prevent the same incident from happening again in the future, server redundancy should be made mandatory."

Policy Chairman Seong said, "Thorough safety measures must be established for data centers in areas such as fire prevention, disaster control, and security. The cause of this incident must be investigated, and all manuals and countermeasures for potential crisis situations must be reviewed again." He also stated, "In relation to this, we will hold a party-government meeting to address the issues and take measures to ensure there is no inconvenience to the public's daily life."

Emergency Committee Chairman Jeong Jin-seok also said, "We take the Kakao outage very seriously as the ruling party. Despite playing a role comparable to national agency communication networks, the laxness of the system has shocked and confused the public. The Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee must identify the cause and prepare measures to prevent recurrence."

Floor Leader Joo Ho-young criticized Kakao's 'octopus-like expansion.' He said, "Kakao has expanded its business in an octopus-like manner with 134 affiliates in sectors such as transportation and finance centered around its messenger service, but no improvement measures have been prepared, nor has it established its own data center." He added, "Many experts have pointed out the need to curb excessive monopolies due to this incident, so we will promptly develop effective measures to prevent monopolies."

He also mentioned the need to newly prepare amendments to the Framework Act on Broadcasting and Communications Development. He said, "During the 20th National Assembly, a bill to designate data centers as national disaster facilities passed the standing committee but was pending in the judiciary committee and was discarded amid controversy over 'double regulation.' Given the need to sufficiently prepare for North Korean provocations, security-level measures are urgent."