Announcement of Digital Service Disruption Investigation Results by Relevant Ministries on the 6th
"No Detailed Fire Response Plan or Drills"
SK C&C Required to Establish 'Fire Detection System'
Kakao Required to Implement 'Service Diversification'
Broadcasting Commission Mandates Notification Obligation for Free Service Disruptions
Kakao and Two Other Companies Actively Reflect Correction Requests
On the afternoon of the 6th, the government held a joint briefing on the investigation results of the 'Pangyo Data Center Fire' accident at the Government Seoul Office. The photo shows Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT explaining the investigation results. Photo by Cha Min-young
[Asia Economy reporters Yuri Choi and Minyoung Cha] The government announced on the 6th that the number of damage claims due to service disruptions caused by the 'Pangyo Data Center Fire' incident last October reached approximately 105,000. The government requested SK C&C, Kakao, and Naver to establish and report improvement measures addressing the main causes of the incident and future plans within one month. The companies also plan to actively reflect the government's corrective demands.
Failure to Detect Fire Early... Lack of Detailed Response Plans and Drills
The Ministry of Science and ICT, the Korea Communications Commission, and the National Fire Agency jointly announced the investigation results on the SK C&C Pangyo Data Center fire and service disruptions of value-added communication services such as Kakao and Naver during a briefing on the same day.
On October 15, a fire broke out at the SK C&C Pangyo Data Center, causing service disruptions for tenant companies including Kakao and Naver. Kakao's services were restored around 11 p.m. on the 20th, taking 127 hours and 33 minutes to recover. Naver experienced some functional errors. Most major services and functions were restored within approximately 20 minutes to 12 hours. The government immediately formed the 'Broadcasting and Communications Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters' led by the Minister of Science and ICT. The Korea Communications Commission instructed operators like Kakao to open dedicated channels for damage claims and establish compensation negotiation bodies.
According to the government's investigation and analysis, the fire was extinguished at 11:45 p.m. on the day of the incident. Power was restored around 5 a.m. on the 19th. Although the SK C&C Pangyo Data Center had a Battery Monitoring System (BMS) to monitor battery temperature and other parameters, it failed to detect signs of fire. Temperatures remained at normal levels until just before the fire, highlighting the need for supplementary devices for early fire detection beyond temperature sensors.
The fire originated in the battery room on the third basement floor. Some UPS units located in the partitioned space between power lines above the battery room and the ceiling area were damaged and stopped functioning due to heat and other effects (estimated) from the fire. To prevent secondary damage such as electric leakage during water spraying, power was cut off. Although gas extinguishing equipment activated after the fire, initial suppression was limited due to the characteristics of lithium-ion battery fires, which are difficult to extinguish with gas. The lithium-ion batteries were not physically completely separated from some uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), causing the UPS to stop functioning and power supply to cease. While there was a fire response manual, there was no detailed response plan or drills reflecting the actual fire situation.
The number of damage claims due to Kakao service disruptions totaled 105,116. Claims related to paid services were 14,918, and those mentioning financial damages for free services were 13,198. Naver implemented redundancy measures between data centers, preventing service interruptions. However, some damages occurred, such as product reviews not appearing in the shopping mall, inability to use some news comments, and errors in Papago's pronunciation listening feature.
Government Requests Proactive Measures from Three Companies... Comprehensive Plan to be Established in Q1
The Ministry of Science and ICT urged the three companies to take proactive measures on issues that can be addressed in the short term. For matters requiring mid- to long-term actions or specific plans, they were asked to report action plans within one month. The government plans to incorporate the companies' submitted results, future plans, and opinions on disaster prevention and recovery when formulating policy measures. After gathering expert opinions, a comprehensive improvement plan to ensure digital service stability will be established and announced by the first quarter of next year.
On October 16th, fire and police officials are waiting for the first inspection at the SK Corporation C&C Data Center fire site in Sampyeong-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@
For SK C&C, the data center operator, the government urged strengthening management of battery monitoring system measurement information and establishing various fire detection systems beyond the current battery monitoring system. They requested the installation of necessary extinguishing equipment for lithium-ion battery fires or, if impossible, the preparation of alternative measures. They also demanded physical separation between batteries and other electrical equipment, relocation of power lines within the battery room to secure structural stability, and consideration of alternative measures. The government asked for individual power cutoffs in disaster zones and the ability to cut power in affected areas without direct entry. Additionally, they requested the development of disaster response scenarios, detailed training plans, and reporting of training results.
Kakao was asked to implement service diversification. The 'operation and management tools,' identified as the key cause of delayed recovery, should apply very high levels of redundancy between data centers. They were instructed to establish plans to apply higher levels of distribution and redundancy for key functions such as authentication. The government also urged conducting disaster preparedness drills, establishing rapid recovery plans for each scenario, building systems to promptly notify users in various ways during service disruptions, and setting principles and standards for public damage relief and compensation plans.
Naver was requested to review and improve recovery targets for each service and recovery plans for various failure scenarios, and to conduct drills assuming situations such as the complete destruction of the main data center.
Korea Communications Commission to Improve Terms of Use... Mandatory Notification for Free Services During Disruptions
The Korea Communications Commission plans to establish user protection measures. They will prepare improvements to laws and terms of use to ensure user notification and effective damage relief in the event of future communication failures. Currently, value-added communication service providers like Kakao must notify users when communication services are interrupted, but only paid service users are required to be notified. This will be expanded to include free service users.
Kwon Hee-soo, head of the User Protection Division at the Korea Communications Commission, said, "(Because the scope of notification differs between paid and free service disruptions) we are proceeding with including notification for free users as well," adding, "We will first improve the terms of use and include related amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act and institutional improvements in the Korea Communications Commission's revision proposals." They plan to prepare measures before the Ministry of Science and ICT's announcement in the first quarter of next year. Regarding including compensation for free service disruptions in the terms of use, he noted, "We intend to review and encourage improvements to damage compensation measures in the terms of use overall," but added, "Including compensation for free service disruptions in the terms of use is difficult in practice and lacks legal grounds."
Companies Also Express Willingness to Cooperate with Government
The companies also expressed their intention to cooperate with the government. SK C&C, Kakao, and Naver stated they will actively reflect the corrective demands announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT and do their best to operate stable services. Kakao will reveal the causes of the service disruption based on its own analysis and disclose recurrence prevention measures at the developer conference 'IF Kakao' on the 7th.
An SK C&C official said, "We are reviewing reinforcement of various fire detection and response systems, including the battery monitoring system," adding, "We are also establishing disaster response scenarios and detailed training plans considering large-scale fire situations." A Kakao official stated, "If there are areas to strengthen among the government's corrective demands, we will actively review and reflect them." A Naver official said, "We will refer to the government's corrective demands and continue to do our best to operate stable services without interruption."
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