Inspectors from the fire and police departments in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, enter SK C&C's Pangyo data center in Bundang District, Sunday, to investigate the site of a fire that broke out at the facility a day before, damaging servers of Kakao and Naver. Yonhap
President says network disruptions can pose grave threat to national security
By Ko Dong-hwan
A software programmer in Seoul on Saturday suddenly began having trouble sending image and video files to his client through his KakaoTalk smartphone app. The simple function the expert used frequently in his daily professional life had always been reliable, until about 3 p.m. that day when the messenger app without warning was unable to carry out the simplest of tasks.
The situation was worse with his laptop computer that was installed with the app's PC version. The program didn't even allow him to log in, only displaying a dialogue box message that attributed the error to a firewall blocking access. For a person who preferred chatting with his wife and friends on KakaoTalk's desktop version instead of his smartphone, it was an unforeseen inconvenience.
It was mayhem for tens of millions of Kakao users within and outside Korea, who had their daily lives derailed throughout the weekend. Its effects were felt by the public, who have largely come to rely on the company's major online services, which have become increasingly popular over the last decade.
The incident's extensive impact throughout the country prompted President Yoon Suk-yeol to issue a grim warning that disruption to a key network infrastructure service like the latest incident not only causes significant inconvenience to the public but also a fatal blow to national security.
"In a hyper-connected society, data telecommunication infrastructure is directly related to national security and citizens' lives," presidential spokesperson Kim Eun-hye quoted Yoon as saying at the presidential office on Sunday. "Leading IT countries and global enterprises have mentioned the importance of a 'flexible recovery' when it comes to operating online platforms. It is a corporation's duty and promise to society."
