South Korea scrambles to restore digital services after server fire

Hundreds of South Korean public services remained offline on Monday after a fire at a data center disrupted government websites and exposed vulnerabilities in the country’s digital infrastructure.

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Authorities said 62 government services had been restored out of about 647 systems affected by the fire which broke out during routine maintenance in a server room at the state-run National Information Resources Service in Daejeon on Friday.

President Lee Jae Myung has apologized for the disruption, saying it was surprising the government had no better backup after similar government service outages in 2023.

Organizations affected by the fire include Korea Customs, the National Police Agency and the National Fire Agency, according to the safety ministry. Some government websites like the safety ministry were out of service as of Monday.

Officials have not given a timetable for full restoration of the disrupted services.