Sixth Day of Paralysis: Recovery Rate Stuck at 15% Despite 700 Personnel Deployed

It has been six days since the government’s computer systems came to a halt due to the fire at the National Information Resources Service, and the recovery rate remains in the 10% range. While there has been no administrative chaos, the overall pace of recovery is slow, leaving the public anxious. The government has set up an on-site situation room at the National Information Resources Service to directly monitor the progress of system-by-system recovery and oversee resource mobilization.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, as of 8 a.m. on October 1, 98 out of 647 information systems (15.1%) that experienced disruptions have been restored. This includes 21 first-grade systems, which have significant impact and a large number of users, as well as 14 second-grade systems.

Yonhap News Agency

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The previous day, the “Subcontract Keeper” system was restored, allowing the entire process of payment for subcontracted construction contracts to be handled electronically, thereby preventing wage arrears. In addition, with the normalization of the manual mobile phone location inquiry function for 119 emergency services, operators at the 119 call center can now accurately determine the caller’s location. However, some restored systems still have limitations, such as “restrictions on issuing new mobile identification cards” and “restrictions on composing emails and sending attachments in the integrated mobile email system for public officials,” so it is expected to take more time before full recovery is achieved.

The government has announced a plan to restore the systems related to the fifth-floor computer room, which was directly damaged by the fire, using the Gongju Center. Although the Gongju Center has not yet opened, it has been storing backup data from the Daejeon Center since August. Yoon Hojung, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (and Minister of the Interior and Safety), stated, “There are systems that are difficult to restore because they are linked to the fifth-floor computer room where the fire occurred,” and added, “Depending on the situation, we are also considering using data distributed at the Gongju Center and other facilities.”

An on-site situation room will be established at the National Information Resources Service. Kim Minjae, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, will serve as the head of the on-site situation room, monitoring the recovery progress of each of the 647 systems and overseeing the mobilization of resources for recovery.

The main issue is the slower-than-expected recovery speed. Currently, 130 government officials and 574 maintenance personnel have been deployed to restore the computer systems. Most notably, recovery is also delayed for the systems that were not completely destroyed among the 647 government computer systems that were halted by the fire, excluding the 96 that were completely burned.

The government stated that preliminary work for recovery, such as cleaning up dust caused by the fire, is taking longer than expected. There are also concerns about problems arising during the process of restoring power to systems that were not completely destroyed. Lee Jaeyong, Director of the National Information Resources Service, explained, “Sensitive components may have been damaged by smoke or heat, and there may have been mechanical stress caused by the rapid shutdown of electricity during the fire.” Internally, the National Information Resources Service is also preparing to procure new parts as part of the system restart process.

There are projections that the government’s estimated timeline for full recovery may be further extended. Recovery efforts are currently focused on first- and second-grade systems, which have higher operational impact, more users, and greater ripple effects. This means that the restoration of third- and fourth-grade systems, which account for about two-thirds of the total 647 systems, has been pushed back. A representative from the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters commented, “Fortunately, some civil service functions, such as Government24 and unmanned civil document issuance kiosks, have been partially normalized, so we do not expect major disruptions.”

As the situation moves from investigation to recovery, discussions on compensation measures for citizens and businesses are expected to gain momentum. Lee Yongseok, Director of the Digital Government Innovation Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, stated at a briefing the previous day, “We will ensure that there are no disadvantages, such as late fees, by extending deadlines. If actual financial damages are reported, we will take action after separate discussions.” It is also known that the government is considering establishing comprehensive compensation guidelines for individual damages, excluding work such as tax payments.

Meanwhile, the transfer of 96 systems located in the fifth-floor 7-1 computer room will begin today. This involves migrating to a public-private partnership cloud. A representative from the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters stated, “We will build a resource pool and utilize existing idle resources to begin transferring the 96 work programs starting October 1,” and added, “We will complete dust removal work for the servers in the fifth-floor 7 and 8 computer rooms, which require cleaning before restarting, by October 12.”

Yoon Hojung, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, is attending and speaking at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting regarding the fire at the National Information Resources Service administrative information system held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on October 1, 2025. Photo by Jo Yongjun

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