[Full Text] Kakao Bows Head... Namgung Hoon Abruptly Resigns from CEO Position

Resignation from CEO Position... "Will Take Responsibility as Subcommittee Chair Until the End"
CEO Hong Euntaek "Will Quickly Establish Compensation Policy"
46 Billion Won to Be Invested Next Year to Complete Ansan Data Center

Namgoong Hoon (left) and Hong Eun-taek, co-CEOs of Kakao, are making a public apology on the 19th at Kakao Pangyo Agit in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, regarding the large-scale outage caused by a data center fire.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao co-CEOs Namgung Hoon and Hong Euntaek held an emergency press conference at 11 a.m. on the 19th at Kakao Ajit in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, to issue a public apology for the prolonged service disruption caused by the data center fire.

Namgung, who took office in March this year, took responsibility for the outage and tendered his resignation as CEO. This decision came five days after the fire on the 15th that completely paralyzed Kakao's services. However, he emphasized that he will remain as the chairman of the Disaster Countermeasures Committee to take full responsibility for the incident until the end.

The following is the full text of the press conference held that day.

Full Statement from CEO Namgung Hoon

I am Namgung Hoon, CEO of Kakao. Since the fire incident occurred, all Kakao employees have been making every effort to restore services. Currently, most services have been normalized.

Our preparation and response did not meet the expectations of our users, causing significant inconvenience for an extended period. I feel even heavier-hearted thinking about users who experienced communication difficulties over the past weekend, drivers who could not receive taxi calls, and business owners who could not use advertising channels, all of whom rely on Kakao services.

We understand that restoring lost trust requires greater and longer efforts than ever before. Taking this incident as an opportunity, we will inspect and reform Kakao’s entire system. We will build an environment where users can safely and conveniently use Kakao services again and do our utmost to regain your trust.

We also take the concerns of the relevant authorities very seriously and will sincerely cooperate with investigations and requests. As soon as all services are normalized, we promise to thoroughly identify the cause of this incident and take maximum measures to prevent recurrence.

Full Statement from CEO Hong Euntaek

I am Hong Euntaek, in charge of the Emergency Countermeasures Committee. Before explaining what we did wrong and how we will fix it regarding this incident, I would like to share the lessons I have learned.

When we first created KakaoTalk, our sole determination was to build a service where users could communicate freely. We were not the first mobile messenger service, and at that time, major internet companies also offered similar services. We focused solely on enabling users to chat comfortably and continuously with as many people as possible. Perhaps because of this dedication, KakaoTalk has become a service used by the majority of the nation.

We thank all users for their support. At the same time, we deeply apologize for the recent incident that failed to meet that support. This incident has become an opportunity for us to reflect on whether we forgot the most fundamental values we should pursue. We will return to our original intention and carefully consider what users want most.

KakaoTalk is now a service used by the majority of the nation and thus carries a public responsibility. We have failed to fulfill that responsibility. Going forward, we will ensure that there is no neglect of this duty. To do so, we believe it is essential to thoroughly investigate the painful reasons behind the delayed recovery this time. We also believe the results must be disclosed objectively and transparently. We plan to conduct an extensive investigation into both the direct causes and the indirect factors behind them. Currently, since recovery is the top priority, we have only identified the approximate cause and will begin a full investigation once recovery is complete.

We understand that the government also plans to investigate the cause of the incident. We will fully cooperate with the investigation to clarify the entire process from ignition to power shutdown and recovery delay.

Alongside this, we will establish compensation policies for users, partners, and all stakeholders affected by this disruption and implement them as quickly as possible. While we have been accepting damage reports through customer centers, a separate reporting channel will open today. Based on the reports received, we will discuss the scope and targets of compensation. We will consider compensation not only for paid service users but also for users, partners, and various stakeholders affected by this disruption. We will provide compensation first before disputing responsibility with SK.

CEO Namgung will lead the Disaster Countermeasures Committee to develop fundamental measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents. Kakao will significantly expand infrastructure investments, including its own data centers, and build infrastructure capable of providing smooth services even if one data center completely stops, as happened this time.

Regarding the cause of this incident, I expect reporters will have questions, so I will explain separately. The reason for the delayed recovery was that although redundancy measures were in place for key service data and applications, the main tools used by developers for operations were not duplicated.

We will begin duplicating these tools once the operation of the Pangyo data center stabilizes. Within two months after stabilization, we will establish an environment to prevent similar incidents.

Kakao is currently investing 460 billion KRW to complete its own data center in Ansan by next year, and aims to start construction of a data center in Siheung in 2024. Learning from this incident, the data centers will be built with enhanced safety features such as fire prevention and seismic resistance.

Finally, as a co-CEO responsible for Kakao’s services, I feel more devastated and responsible than ever. I have decided to step down as CEO to reaffirm Kakao’s determination for reform and change, and will devote myself solely to addressing deficiencies and necessary improvements as chairman of the Emergency Countermeasures Committee’s Disaster Countermeasures Subcommittee, taking full responsibility for this incident.

Furthermore, I will take on this heavy responsibility until this incident is resolved, aiming to help prevent similar incidents not only at Kakao but across the entire IT industry in South Korea, even if only in a small way.

To prevent recurrence across the industry, we may need to expose our own shortcomings. However, I believe this is Kakao’s duty. There is a saying, "All aviation regulations are written in blood." It means that countless accidents and shared cases during flights have led to safer skies. We hope our IT industry will follow this path.

Through this opportunity, we will reflect deeply, share with society, and fulfill our final duties. We will arrange a session to share this through if kakao in the future.

Once again, we sincerely apologize to all users. We promise to do our utmost to restore your trust in Kakao.

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