South Korea: Restoring government's computer network after fire is likely to take two weeks

Seoul, September 28 (IANS). South Korea’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday that it slowly resumed the operation of the administrative computer network, which was brought to a standstill by the fire caused by the explosion of the battery. It is estimated that it will take about two weeks to be completely restored. The fire broke out on Friday after a lithium-ion battery exploded in a computer room on the 5th floor in the National Information Resource Services Center in the middle of the city of Deson. According to the ministry, the government has restored more than 50 percent network equipment in the center by 7am. Out of 767 major safety -related equipment, 99 percent started working again. According to the Yonhap News Agency report, the ministry said it would gradually turn on 551 computer systems that were not directly affected by the fire so that it could be reviewed whether the online service normally runs or not. Out of a total of 647 government network systems in the center, it is estimated that 96 was damaged by the recent fire, including the mobile identification system and online postal service. An official from the Interior Ministry said that the government’s internet, the Onara system, needed for the public sector, is currently only providing limited services and large facilities are closed. The government said they were preparing to move 96 damaged systems to the agency branch in the southeastern city of Dagu and is expected to take about two weeks. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance said its most important platforms, including the state’s financial information network and the government subsidy portal, were turned on. Kim Quang-Yong, head of the disaster safety management headquarters, said: “The government is making efforts to quickly restore the administrative system. We will reveal the progress of rescue work and the causes of the fire in a transparent way.” The Ministry of Science said that the financial services operated by Korea Post were restored at 9pm on Sunday evening, including debit card transactions, online banking and ATM services. However, the recovery of his postal service is still underway and the operations are expected to begin from Monday morning. Science Minister Bay Cuning-Hun said: “To make the post and financial services of Korea Post completely normal, we intend to continue with the monitoring efforts to continue the system update and judge the loss.” Fire service and police intend to inspect on the spot to find out the cause of the fire. Government officials said the employees were separated from the server’s seamless power supply batteries and took it to the cellar. Officials said the fire was extinguished at 18:00 about 22 hours after the fire on Saturday. -Ians Ash/DKP