Presidential Office on KakaoTalk Outage: "Network Disruption Critically Threatens National Security"

Kim Eun-hye Chief "Online Platform Resilience, Corporate Responsibility and Social Commitment"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] The Presidential Office stated on the 16th regarding the recent weekend outage of online services such as Kakao and Naver, "Network disruption not only causes significant damage to people's livelihoods but also poses a critical threat to national security in times of emergency."

The prolonged suspension of the KakaoTalk service, used by the majority of the public, was emphasized as more than a simple accident, reflecting a failure to fulfill corporate responsibilities. Additionally, it was interpreted as a call for thorough prevention of recurrence, given its potential impact as a national security risk.

Kim Eun-hye, Chief of Public Relations, said at a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon, "In a hyper-connected society, data communication infrastructure is directly linked to national security and the daily lives of citizens. The prolonged KakaoTalk outage caused great inconvenience and damage to the public."

Chief Kim added, "This morning, I noticed many reporters switching messengers, which made me realize how many people were affected and suffered damage due to the KakaoTalk incident. As I mentioned earlier, President Yoon Suk-yeol said he feels very seriously about the inconvenience and damage our citizens are experiencing related to the Kakao service outage."

Regarding the related service disruption that occurred this weekend, President Yoon ordered, "Government ministries must make every effort to ensure responsible and swift service recovery."

President Yoon also instructed, "Not only must the cause be identified, but accident prevention measures including the installation of twin data centers (data center redundancy), as well as systems for reporting and responding to incidents, must be thoroughly established. I hope the current situation room, led by the Ministry of Science and ICT's director, will be elevated to be headed by the minister."

In this regard, Chief Kim explained, "I think the public and private sectors will discuss together re-examining the safety obligations for data centers and supplementing them to fit current realities."

Chief Kim further emphasized, "Recently, leading IT countries and global companies worldwide mention resilience when operating online platforms. It is both a corporate responsibility and a social commitment."

Chief Kim also explained, "The smooth operation of online platforms and risk response are deeply related to people's livelihoods. At the same time, since this issue is directly connected to national security, I wanted to convey President Yoon's request to raise awareness among you all."

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