"Critical Systems to Restore Service Within One Hour During Disasters"... National Information Resources Fire Countermeasures

One Year After the National Information Resources Fire: Follow-Up Measures Announced
Daejeon Center to Close in 2030, Exploring Replacement Options
Reclassification of Systems from A1 to A4 Based on Public Impact

The government is working to restore services for national core information systems within one hour in the event of a disaster. The decision regarding the replacement center for the National Information Resources Service Daejeon Headquarters, which is scheduled to close in 2030, will be made by the first quarter of next year.

Hwang Kyucheol, Director General, Announcing Measures to Strengthen Cybersecurity Accountability in the Public Sector (center) Photo by Yonhap News

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety held a briefing at the Seoul Government Complex on October 2 to announce measures to strengthen the safety of national information systems and operational facilities, marking one year since the fire at the Daejeon Headquarters of the National Information Resources Service. On September 26 last year, a fire broke out during the relocation of lithium-ion batteries at the Daejeon site, causing a complete paralysis of the government's computer network. Full recovery was achieved only after 95 days.

Hwang Kyucheol, Director of the Artificial Intelligence Government Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, stated, "The Daejeon Center of the National Information Resources Service is scheduled for closure in 2030 due to aging, which makes it difficult to ensure stability," adding, "We plan to devise replacement center and system relocation measures by the first quarter of next year." Various options are being considered for the replacement center, including new construction or leasing, while system relocation could involve transferring systems to other centers or to private cloud services.

The information system grading system has been reorganized based on its impact on the public, and the 15,000 national information systems have been reclassified into grades A1 through A4. For A1-class information systems, the government has set a goal of restoring services within one hour during disasters by implementing dual operations, meaning an auxiliary system will operate with the same functionality as the main system.

A disaster recovery plan is being established for 97 A1 and A2 grade systems operated at the Daejeon Center. Among these, thirteen highly critical systems—such as resident registration, postal information, and 119 emergency smart services—will begin immediate construction this month and are scheduled for completion during the first half of next year.

A full-scale investigation was conducted from January to March on all 1,459 national information system operation facilities managed by administrative and public institutions across the country. This identified 56 facilities in which lithium batteries were not separated in compliance with the relevant standards. In May, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety issued recommendations for improvements so that each institution could swiftly develop an action plan.

Director Hwang stated, "We will monitor and track each institution’s action plans and execution until completion. For facilities that are structurally difficult to improve due to space or building limitations, we will support their migration to private cloud environments."

He concluded, "Providing stable public services is the basic foundation for realizing an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered democratic government. We will make every effort to enhance the stability of our information systems, ensuring that citizens can trust and use government services whenever they need them."

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