October 3, 2025
SEOUL – Police raided the headquarters of the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon on Thursday morning to look into a Sept. 26 fire that has paralyzed hundreds of government computer systems and administrative services.
According to the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency, officers conducted a search and seizure at the NIRS facility and at three firms linked to the uninterruptible power supply in use at the data center at the time of the fire.
Though the exact cause of the fire is still being investigated by forensic officials, the lithium-ion batteries powering the UPS were identified as the source. The blaze broke out as the UPS was being relocated to the basement of the data center.
According to police, the investigation is centered on allegations of professional negligence by those in charge of the relocation project.
On Wednesday, authorities booked four officials in connection with the fire, including one NIRS official and three outsourced workers who were overseeing the battery relocation.
Investigators earlier questioned up to 12 individuals, including the relocation project manager and other workers on site, as witnesses.
Additionally, the South Korean government said Thursday it will enlist state-funded research institutions — the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology — and outside specialists to speed up the recovery of government systems crippled by the fire at the NIRS headquarters.
According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, only 115, or 17.7 percent of the 647 affected systems, have been restored as of 4 p.m. Thursday, an increase of just 16 from the previous day.
“Recovery work has been slow and complicated due to its interconnected nature,” explained Vice Interior Minister Kim Min-jae during Thursday’s press briefing. “Even the systems in rooms unaffected by the fire are down because they were linked to the fire-damaged servers.”
While the Interior Ministry initially stated on Monday that it would take a month to recover the systems destroyed in the fire, officials stated on Thursday that it aims to complete the restoration of power units within 10 days by working with specialists from private companies, such as Samsung SDS and LG CNS, to carry out necessary repairs, replace damaged infrastructure and conduct quick clean-ups.
