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Battery Fire at State Data Center Disables 647 South Korean Government Systems

Authorities say the blaze is out, with cooling and network repairs to precede phased restarts.

Overview

  • Officials confirmed the flames were fully extinguished by 6 p.m. Saturday local time after about 22 hours of firefighting involving roughly 200 personnel and dozens of trucks.
  • The fire began when a UPS lithium‑ion battery exploded during disconnection for relocation in a fifth‑floor server room, and police and fire authorities are investigating the cause.
  • A total of 647 systems were shut down, including 436 public services and 211 internal networks, with 96 systems directly damaged by the incident.
  • Outages hit mobile ID, online postal and financial services, the Onnara intranet, 119 emergency location tracking, ministry websites and email, as agencies deploy manual workarounds and extend deadlines.
  • Fire authorities reported roughly 384 to nearly 400 battery packs destroyed and are submerging units to prevent reignition; one worker suffered first‑degree burns, and industry sources say multi‑stage backups make data loss unlikely.