South Korean authorities are racing to restore government online systems after a major fire broke out late on Friday at a central state data centre in Daejeon, crippling scores of public services.
The blaze began at about 8.20pm local time on Friday inside the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) facility, after what officials believe was an explosion in a lithium-ion uninterruptible power supply battery that had been disconnected for relocation to the basement.
According to Reuters, the battery was reportedly produced by LG Energy Solution.
The battery explosion triggered a “thermal runaway”, sending extreme heat through the server room and making it unsafe for firefighters to adopt more aggressive extinguishing tactics.
Around 170 to 200 firefighters, supported by more than 60 fire trucks, were deployed to the scene and worked through the night. The blaze was declared largely extinguished by 6.30am on Saturday, though officials said it partly reignited later in the morning, forcing crews to continue ventilation work.
Efforts were complicated by concerns that using large volumes of water could worsen battery damage or spread fire among server units, forcing reliance on suppression systems like carbon dioxide and careful ventilation, according to The Korea Herald.
Because of the damage to cooling, humidity control and power systems, officials ordered the shutdown of more than 600 servers to protect data integrity. In all, 647 government systems housed in the Daejeon centre were suspended, which officials said amounted to nearly one-third of the government’s total online information systems.
Firefighters also worked to extract nearly 400 destroyed lithium-ion battery packs from the building as a safety measure.
One worker working on the relocation of the batteries suffered first-degree burns to the face and arms, according to Yonhap news agency.
No deaths have been reported.
By Saturday morning, many vital services remained offline. Among those suspended were the mobile identification system, online postal operations, the national legal database, and the central government complaints and petitions platform.
Several ministries also lost access to internal email systems.
The disruptions paralysed the location-tracking function of the 119 emergency rescue service and the pan-government intranet, leaving officials in Daejeon and the nearby administrative city of Sejong unable to access online systems.
Citizens also reported everyday inconveniences: a 53-year-old man in Uijeongbu was unable to make a payment with a Korea Post debit card, while others found transfers from postal bank accounts suspended.
Officials have warned that those relying solely on mobile ID for travel or identification might face additional disruption.
In a televised emergency meeting, prime minister Kim Min Seok expressed regret over the disruptions and pledged swift action.
“There were difficulties in containing the fire because of the nature of critical government systems being concentrated at one site,” he said.
He announced that tax payment deadlines would be extended to help alleviate public inconvenience, and directed priority be given to restoring services that affect daily life.
Interior minister Yun Ho Jung separately raised the crisis management level for government information systems from “alert” to “serious” and said all available resources would be mobilised to minimise disruption.
The restoration timeline remains uncertain; the head of the data centre, Lee Jae Yong, said that no estimate could yet safely be given.
Vice interior minister Kim Min Jae said stabilising the environmental and cooling systems is the immediate priority, after which servers would be gradually brought back online.
“The temperature and humidity control equipment is currently being repaired. Once this is complete, the government plans to bring the servers back online to restore the services,” he told reporters.
Officials emphasised that critical services — postal, financial and legal systems — would be restored first. Internal networks in government agencies in Daejeon and the nearby administrative city of Sejong were also “paralysed,” Kim said.
Emergency alerts were also sent out to citizens, urging them to use alternative websites or offline offices where possible.
In a public notice, the interior ministry warned: “We ask for your understanding that delays or restrictions may occur on-site” and pledged to extend deadlines while services remained down.
Public agencies have shifted to manual processing where possible, and notices have been posted urging citizens to confirm the availability of services before visiting offices in person.
The National Data Service serves as the cloud server backbone for government ministries and databases across South Korea, with additional centres in Gwangju and Daegu. However, this outage has highlighted the risks of centralisation.
This is not the first time Korea has suffered from a concentrated data centre failure. In 2022, a fire in a private data centre in Pangyo knocked Kakao services offline, affecting tens of millions of users.
