KakaoTalk 'Meoktong' Outage Causes Payment and Notification Failures in Retail Industry

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The KakaoTalk 'blackout' incident has caused disruptions in services of affiliated companies such as Kakao Pay, leading to consumer inconvenience. Related industries, including retail, are rushing to inform consumers about the service disruptions and are considering ways to minimize consumer damage.

According to the industry on the 16th, the KakaoTalk outage mainly caused issues with website access and Kakao Pay payments.

First, Encar.com, a used car platform located in the SK C&C Pangyo data center where the fire occurred, experienced website and mobile app access disruptions from 5 PM the previous day until 8:40 AM today, causing inconvenience to consumers. SK Rent-a-Car also faced disruptions in its website and customer center operations but has since recovered.

In the retail industry, problems particularly arose with Kakao Pay payments and order/delivery notification functions. Homeplus announced on its online website and mobile app the previous day that "Kakao Pay payment, Kakao login, Kakao membership registration, Kakao 1:1 inquiries, and KakaoTalk order and delivery notifications, which are Kakao account-linked services, are not functioning properly."

Market Kurly posted on its website and app the previous day that some services such as Kakao Pay payment and KakaoTalk gifting are difficult to use. Olive Young also informed that some functions, including the Today Dream pickup service, are suspended due to Kakao service disruptions.

At Starbucks stores nationwide, payments using Kakao gifting mobile vouchers and some delivery order services are currently unavailable. Starbucks Korea announced through its application that "some services are not operating normally" and promised to "take swift action."

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