709 Systems Restored in 95 Days
Government24 and Other Services Paralyzed Before Chuseok
Major Impact from Administrative System Shutdown
Going forward, safety management standards and disaster recovery (DR) systems for public data centers handling administrative information systems will be strengthened. Marking the complete restoration of the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) following the fire in September, the government has decided to focus on improving related infrastructure.
On December 30, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that all 709 systems affected by the NIRS fire had been fully restored as of 9:30 a.m. that day. This comes 95 days after the fire broke out at the main Daejeon NIRS facility. The last three systems to be restored were those that had been transferred and recovered through the public-private cloud at the Daegu Center: support for the Smart Work Center, the Mobile Electronic Government System, and support for the Mobile Electronic Government System, all of which were restored the previous day.
Previously, on September 26, just before the Chuseok holiday, a fire broke out during the relocation of lithium-ion batteries at the main Daejeon NIRS facility, paralyzing the government's administrative information systems. Immediately after the fire, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety issued a disaster crisis alert and activated the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. As the system recovery rate gradually increased, the crisis alert level was lowered, and the headquarters was transitioned to the "Emergency Response Headquarters" and "Emergency Response Team."
With all systems restored as of this day, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety lifted the "caution" level disaster crisis alert and ended the disaster response system for administrative information systems. However, even after the response system is terminated, each ministry will directly monitor its respective systems, and in the event of any issues, will respond swiftly through cooperation among relevant agencies.
The ministry will also work to fundamentally improve the information system infrastructure exposed by the NIRS fire. Once the National AI Strategy Committee establishes its AI government infrastructure and governance innovation plan, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will proceed accordingly. The safety management standards for public data centers, which have been criticized as inadequate compared to private data centers, will be strengthened. In addition, disaster recovery systems (DR) such as system redundancy and real-time backup will be comprehensively improved to operate effectively in the event of a disaster.
The ministry's budget for next year has also been increased to include additional funding for NIRS-related projects. The National Assembly approved 49 billion won for establishing IT equipment for emergency recovery and transitioning to private cloud, as well as 343.4 billion won for improving major disaster recovery systems (DR) and gradually relocating the aging Daejeon center.
The government's sweeping overhaul is a response to the significant impact caused by the suspension of administrative systems during the NIRS fire. With the incident occurring just before the Chuseok holiday, public inconvenience was widespread, affecting services such as post office delivery, Government24, and mobile identification cards. Access to the "e-Haneul Funeral Information System," which is used to reserve cremation facilities, was restricted, causing disruptions to reservations.
The effects were also significant for government offices and industries. "G-Drive," the cloud service used by public officials for work, was lost without backup, and even the email system was paralyzed, forcing the use of private messengers until recovery was complete. Essential systems for businesses, such as the Strategic Goods Management System and the Korea ON-line E-Procurement System (KONEPS), were halted, resulting in an increase in complaints from companies.
Yoon Ho-joong, Minister of the Interior and Safety, stated, "Taking this incident as a lesson, the government will fundamentally improve the overall management system for national information resources and focus all efforts on enhancing stability and reliability."
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