Kakao Daetalchul with No Ordering, Payment, or Communication... Reminiscent of the Analog Era

Taxi and Self-Employed Livelihoods Hit Hard
Payment Errors Lead to Wallets Left at Home
Office Workers Switching to 'Telegram'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Byungdon Yoo, Gyumin Oh, Sehee Jang] Taxi drivers and self-employed workers expressed frustration, saying their livelihoods were hit by the ‘Kakao blackout incident.’ Some office workers said they no longer trust KakaoTalk and have switched their work communication channels to Telegram.

On the 17th, Mr. Kim (72), who has been driving a taxi for 30 years, said, "I receive calls through the Kakao Taxi application, but my sales dropped by 50% from Saturday to Sunday," adding, "I didn’t operate at all the night before, and since this morning, I’ve been moving quickly to make up for the losses."

Mr. Kim (32), who runs a custom cake shop in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, said, "Until yesterday, the KakaoTalk channel was not restored, so it was difficult to confirm orders," and added, "Some customers canceled their orders, saying it would be hard to confirm reservations later." Mr. Lee (38), who operates a makeup shop in Ahyeon-dong, Seoul, also said, "KakaoTalk went down, so I couldn’t receive any reservation inquiries," and "It was very frustrating because I couldn’t even take phone reservations while working."

Some office workers decided to move their work communication channels to Telegram. Mr. Lee Jungwon (34), who works in Yeouido, said, "The KakaoTalk error over the weekend disrupted preparations for Monday’s work," and added, "We decided to create a team group chat on Telegram as well."

Mr. Lee (28), a local government official, said, "I had to share work materials immediately for event preparation, but I experienced inconvenience," and added, "Telegram has fewer errors than KakaoTalk and better security, so I decided to use Telegram going forward." Online, reactions such as ‘We should stop relying on KakaoTalk so much’ and ‘Let’s switch to Telegram’ also appeared.

Errors also occurred in KakaoMap, KakaoPay, and other services, causing inconvenience to some citizens. Mr. Oh Moonsung (61) said, "I had prepared for a couples’ lunch gathering on Sunday, but I received a late message that one of the attendees couldn’t come due to illness," explaining, "It was because KakaoTalk errors caused communication difficulties." Mr. Choi (29) said, "I went to a convenience store near my house planning to pay with KakaoPay, but I was surprised when the payment failed due to a sudden error," adding, "I had to go back home to get my wallet, which reminded me of the old analog days."

Meanwhile, KakaoTalk experienced errors starting around 3:30 p.m. on the previous day due to a fire at the SK C&C data center on the 16th, affecting KakaoTalk, the portal site Daum, and many other Kakao services.

In response, President Yoon Suk-yeol stated that if the market has been distorted by KakaoTalk’s monopoly, the government must respond and that a thorough investigation will be conducted. The Ministry of Science and ICT, the police, and the fire department, which are the relevant authorities, plan to visit the fire site to investigate the exact cause of the accident.

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