[Comprehensive] "It's useless, so what?" On the first day of the quarantine pass, the government caused the authentication chaos

[Asia Economy Reporters Seol Gi-na, Seo So-jung, Cha Min-young] #1. "I got vaccinated. The QOOV (QOOV·Electronic Vaccination Certificate) app is not showing up, what should I do?"

On the first day of the COVID-19 vaccine pass enforcement, the 13th, during lunchtime, the restaurant area at Seoul Yeouido IFC Mall had much longer lines than usual. Although empty seats were visible here and there inside the restaurants, entry was hardly allowed. Both customers who came for lunch and employees stood at the door, tapping their feet while holding smartphones. Their faces clearly showed signs of confusion. This was due to the paralysis of the QR code electronic verification system that confirms COVID-19 vaccination status. Eventually, some restaurants were seen taking out the manually written logs, which were officially banned, indicating that the vaccine pass was not being thoroughly checked.

As the government implements measures to expand the use of the quarantine pass and additional vaccinations to curb the spread of COVID-19, from the 13th, anyone wishing to use indoor multi-use facilities such as restaurants, cafes, academies, and libraries must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination completion or a negative test result confirming they are not infected. The grace period for the expanded quarantine pass (vaccination proof and negative test confirmation system), which was applied from the 6th, ends on this day, and enforcement will begin. The photo shows a cafe in downtown Seoul on the 13th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The government, which had announced the expansion of the vaccine pass, has been criticized for causing an 'authentication chaos' from the very first day of enforcement. They should have anticipated and prepared for the expected surge in access beforehand, but they failed to properly prepare basic server expansions. Ultimately, the government announced close to 8 p.m. that the vaccine pass would not be applied that day.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the QR code electronic verification system that experienced access failures before lunchtime began to normalize around 1:30 p.m. It is presumed that the system was overloaded due to a sudden surge of users during lunchtime. Similar errors occurred in the QR code systems linked with the QOOV app on Naver and Kakao. However, the QR codes provided by Naver and Kakao for electronic entry logs, which operate independently of the QOOV app, did not experience any significant issues.

The KDCA explained shortly after, "The QOOV server located at the KT DS Cloud Center was unable to process requests smoothly due to access overload." However, it was confirmed that there were no operational failures at the KT DS Cloud Center that day. The server capacity was increased as requested by the KDCA, and there were no abnormal phenomena caused by exceeding capacity. A few hours later, the KDCA clarified, "When we said the electronic vaccination certificate operation server is at the KT DS Cloud Center, it was not meant to imply that there was an operational problem with the server at KT DS Cloud Center."

Industry insiders believe that the cause of this authentication chaos was that the scale of server expansion pushed by the KDCA ahead of the vaccine pass expansion could not keep up with the volume of access on that day.

A cloud industry official said, "It seems that the QOOV app connection was no longer possible due to database or network overload," adding, "This can be resolved by expanding servers and equipment, but sufficient preparation was not made." It is natural that the number of users would increase when the vaccine pass is made mandatory, yet the government failed to predict the demand.

In response to such criticism, the KDCA explained, "We were improving the system for vaccine pass institutional improvements, and until then, the KDCA continuously monitored server load and other factors during the guidance period." When asked how much expansion was requested from KT, the KDCA gave an unclear answer, stating, "KT proposes and performs server expansion scale based on KDCA's requests, but KT does not request based on estimated operating capacity or user numbers."

Some even criticize that this was a predictable incident. A restaurant official located in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, said, "Last week around lunchtime, there were also issues with QOOV app authentication," and added, "Considering that it was to be fully enforced from today, this was somewhat a predictable situation." It is hard to ignore the criticism that the government, which repeatedly emphasized the vaccine pass, caused the authentication chaos themselves.

A cloud industry official pointed out, "The KDCA, which failed in demand forecasting, is primarily at fault," and added, "KT, which has cloud expertise, also cannot be considered completely free of responsibility as it could have prepared sufficient emergency measures for traffic overload." The KDCA plans to hold consultations among related agencies to normalize the system and prepare measures to prevent recurrence.

On that day, some restaurants were seen replacing the vaccine pass with manually written logs, which are effectively banned, after repeated complaints from customers saying "I have been vaccinated." However, to use indoor multi-use facilities such as restaurants, cafes, and academies, a vaccine pass is mandatory. If the vaccine pass is not properly checked and violations are detected, both users and business owners must pay fines.

Jo, a 30-year-old office worker, said, "Since I was told I would have to pay a fine, I couldn't just ask to be let in, and the QOOV app was down, so it was extremely frustrating," adding, "After trying (to access the QOOV app) for a long time, I finally found a photo of my vaccination certificate taken with my smartphone camera and barely got in." Jo wasted about 30 minutes standing in line in front of the restaurant that day.

Another restaurant official expressed frustration, saying, "What are we supposed to do if the basic authentication system stumbles while threatening to impose fines?" and added, "During the busiest lunchtime, I could only say 'sorry' to customers who asked for seats after completing vaccination." The government belatedly announced that the vaccine pass would not be applied that day due to system overload.

As the controversy intensified, the KDCA announced late that afternoon, "We will not apply the vaccine pass for today, and no fines or penalties will be imposed for vaccine pass violations detected today."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.