More than 600 government business systems were shut down due to a fire in the computer room of the South Korean Network Center

A fire broke out at the National Information Resources Management Institute in Daejeon, South Korea, on Friday evening (September 26th), causing more than 600 government business systems to cease operation. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety of South Korea raised the alert level from "Alert" to "Severe" on Saturday.

Reuters reported that South Korean officials said the fire was suspected to have been caused by an explosion of lithium-ion batteries produced by LG Energy Solution, which led to damage to some servers and forced the shutdown of hundreds of servers.

Fire and government officials explained that the fire caused a "thermal runaway", and the server room of the National Information Resources Service Center in Daejeon City generated extremely high temperatures, preventing firefighters from taking active measures to control the fire.

According to the Daejeon Fire Department, the fire broke out at around 8:20 p.m. on the 26th and was brought under control at around 6 a.m. on the 27th. However, more than 600 servers were still forcibly shut down to ensure data security. Meanwhile, firefighters are striving to remove nearly 400 battery packs from the building to ensure safety.

LG Energy Solution declined to comment as the case is under investigation.

The Yonhap News Agency reported that the National Information Resources Management Agency, which is affiliated with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety of South Korea, is regarded as the hub of South Korea's national computer network. Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety of South Korea Kim Min said at a press conference on the 27th that the fire caused 647 government business systems to stop operating. The government will start the repair work as soon as possible from the major service systems that have a greater impact on the people, such as postal services and finance.

On the 27th, South Korea's Minister of the Interior and Safety, Yoon Ho-joong, presided over a relevant meeting and decided that the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters would deal with this crisis and raise the alert level from "Alert" to "Severe".

After a fire broke out in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers from the capital Seoul, some websites of government departments, mobile identity recognition systems, postal services and government legal databases remained inaccessible on the 27th. According to the notice received by the reporter, some departments are unable to use email.

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok apologized for the inconvenience caused to the public by the service disruption and also said that the upcoming tax payment deadline would be extended.