National Assembly Science and ICT Committee Inspects Pangyo Fire Site: "Primitive Thinking Unprepared for Emergency Situations"

Jeong Cheong-rae "No Redundancy Work Done for Emergency Preparedness
Chairman Kim Beom-su Called as Witness to Confirm Measures"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] On the 16th, ruling and opposition members of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee visited the SK C&C Pangyo Data Center, which caused service disruptions for Kakao, Daum, Naver, and other platforms due to a fire accident, to inspect the site.

Committee Chairperson Jeong Cheong-rae stated at the scene, "The public has suffered greatly from this accident, and the cause was absurdly the failure to implement redundancy measures to prepare for emergencies." He added, "Tomorrow, through an agreement between ruling and opposition party secretaries, we will summon Chairman Kim Beom-su (Kakao) and other related personnel as witnesses to investigate the cause and confirm countermeasures."

Chairperson Jeong pointed out, "The data system was located from the second floor, and the fire occurred in the basement where the power supply units were. They had to cut off the power to spray water there. In a way, it was a primitive mistake," and added, "They should have had alternative power supply devices prepared for such situations, but they did not."

During a briefing from the Ministry of Science and ICT and others, he said, "I focused on asking why the redundancy system was not in place, why there was no contingency plan (a type of emergency plan for disasters or war), why they did not immediately notify the public via text messages or similar methods despite the serious damage, and why pre-inspections were not conducted."

Chairperson Jeong stated, "Since we could not inspect everything in a short time today, I requested that the related parties appear before the National Assembly to report on the cause of the accident, future countermeasures, and comprehensive plans including long-term compensation and restitution for the public," and added, "We plan to summon the related parties as witnesses to verify and inform the public about various issues they are curious about."

Democratic Party Secretary Cho Seung-rae responded to criticism about the lack of pre-inspection at the National Assembly despite repeated service disruptions like this incident, saying, "For network operators like KT, supplementary measures and institutional devices have been somewhat established through previous accidents, but for value-added telecommunications service providers, only stable traffic management is regulated, and redundancy devices for disaster situations are insufficient."

He continued, "During the 20th National Assembly, a bill containing such measures passed the standing committee and went to the judiciary committee but was not finally passed and was automatically discarded," adding, "I regret that it was not passed then. I believe institutional measures should also be applied to value-added telecommunications service providers."

People Power Party Secretary Park Seong-jung promised, "A fire in a small space of the data center caused problems with the entire center's functions, but even if North Korean missiles were to fly, there should be backup functions," and added, "We need to improve the system to enable more active public communication during such disruptions and strive to ensure broad compensation and restitution for damages."

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