Why has the NIRS Gongju Backup Center remained inoperative for 18 years?

log date: 2025-10-5

Overview of the case: 

• Based on press releases distributed by the Ministry of Interior and Safety and South Korean media reports, on September 26, 2025 at 20:15, a fire broke out in the server room on the fifth floor of the Daejeon headquarters of the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in South Korea, and was reportedly extinguished after 21 hours.
• On October 20, 2022, as the head of NIRS at the time, Kang Dong-seok announced on KTV (Korea Policy Broadcasting) that the NIRS was prepared to recover within three hours in the event of a system failure due to a fire or other disaster.
• However, instead of Lee Jae-yong who is the current head of NIRS and didn't even make an official appearance yet, Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-joong announced after the incident of September 26 that recovery would take considerable time because the government 's backup system was not operational.
• Immediately after Yoon's announcement, as if the long-awaited "time" had arrived, the government handed over the NIRS backup responsibility to NHN Cloud, a private company with foreign capital.
• The inspection and investigation of state administration are urgently to be called. Since this case likely involved current and former members of the National Assembly and Cabinet members in South Korea, the inspection and investigation should be conducted by a special committee rather than by current members of the National Assembly themselves.

Captured from a video clip aired on October 20, 2022 by KTV.

As cases of damage due to loss of national electronic document data continue to mount, many backup administrators including DB backup operators argue that the scale of damage would not have been so severe if the NIRS Gongju Backup Center, which had planned to back up data in two different locations, had begun operations sooner.

Source: Yonhap News, Korea's largest and national news agency that supplies articles to broadcasters, newspapers, government agencies, portal sites, and other subscribers.

The NIRS Gongju Backup Center was established in 2008 in accordance with the "Information Security Comprehensive Plan" to strengthen the South Korea information security system. Construction was originally scheduled to be completed and operations commenced by 2012.

However, construction did not begin until 2019 due to two feasibility studies, seven failed bids, and changes to the bidding process. Construction was subsequently halted due to increased construction costs, a feasibility study of the project plan, and insufficient supervision funds. The NIRS Gonju Center was finally completely built in May 2023. (enigma 1)

With unknown reasons, the Korean government did not open and begin operations of the Gongju Backup Center right away, but postponed the opening, saying that it would begin operations in November of the following year. (enigma 2)

In November 2023, a government administrative computer network failure in South Korea forced a revision to the plan to introduce an "active disaster recovery (DR) system" at the Gongju Center. This served as a pretext for further delaying the opening of the NIRS Gongju Backup Center. (enigma 3)

Domestic data recovery experts stress that if the Gongju Backup Center which was built to protect the nation's computer system in the event of a disaster or other catastrophe, had operated as scheduled, not only could the disaster have been prevented, but even if an unexpected incident had occurred, it would have enabled rapid recovery. 

An excerpt from an interview with Lee Jae-yong, the head of NIRS,
conducted by a monthly magazine in South Korea on February 11, 2025.

Lee Jae-yong (left) head of the NIRS (Photo provided by the monthly magazine)

The Gongju Backup Center, which began construction in 2008 and cost over 150 billion won, was completed in May 2023, but has been inoperative for 18 years.

The National Assembly Budget Office's 2024 fiscal year settlement report (Public Administration and Security Committee) also confirmed that the construction project for the NIRS Gongju Backup Center has been delayed for an incredibly long time. (enigma 4)

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced the damages as of the 29th, starting that a fire broke out at the NIRS Daejeon Center on the 26th, destroying 740 computer equipment and 384 batteries. The fire caused the shutdown of 647 administrative information systems. The government plans to resume services after verifying the normal operation of the remaining 551 systems, excluding the 96 directly damaged by the fire. However, as of the morning of the 29th, only 55 government systems had been restored, and complete restoration is expected to take considerable time.

The NIRS Daejeon Center where a fire broke out and paralyzed the entire government.
Photo by Newsis.

National Information Resources Services (NIRS) in South Korea (Source: Google Images)

Three years ago, in 2022, South Korea experienced a similar crisis due to a fire at its Pangyo data center, paralyzing KakaoTalk Services. At the time, the South Korean government demanded strong measures from KakaoTalk, including the establishment of multiple cloud servers.

The NIRS Korea in 2022 boasted that, "even if the Daejeon data center is completely destroyed by fire or earthquake, we can restore it within three hours using real-time backup data." At the time, the NIRS claimed that the Daejeon data center had secured robust backup capabilities. (enigma 5)

Three years later however, Yoon Ho-jung the Minister of the Inferior and Safety responded that the government's computer system was paralyzed by a single fire and that, with no backups in place, it was impossible to predict when it would be restored.

Yoon Ho-jung, the Minister of the Inferior and Safety (Photo by Newsis)

The public remains unconvinced by the government's explanation that no backups were in place, and now suspects that for some reason, the recovery was intentionally delayed.

In fact, when the government's administrative network was paralyzed in November 2023, with resident registration issuance suspended, the government announced a comprehensive plan that included replacing again equipment and establishing a dual system.

The most devastating damage was that the G-drive containing all government electronic documents used by current public servants was destroyed by fire, and the Minster of the Interior and Safety stated that a quick recovery was impossible because the government documents were not backed up at all.

In South Korea, government services related to public affairs have been completely suspended. Even state-run postal savings accounts are not providing deposit and withdrawal services, causing difficulties for Korean citizens during the long Chuseok holiday. The country is effectively in crisis.

Notice that all financial and ATM services related to post office deposits and insurance have been suspended. (Source: Yonhap News)

Notwithstanding, on September 28th, two days after the incident, the incumbent President of South Korea reportedly appeared on a variety show and filmed the video for the Chuseok holiday broadcast.

Captured from a broadcast where South Korea President Lee appeared on a variety show.

From the evening of the 26th, when the electronic documents at the Daejeon Center were completely destroyed, to the evening of the 28th, the president's schedule was reportedly empty for nearly 45 hours. This means that the president effectively took no action for two days during the crisis that paralyzed the national intelligence network.

South Korea President's schedule for September 2025, released by the Office of the President, shows that no emergency response meeting was held until the evening of the 3rd day after the national intelligence network was destroyed by fire.

President Lee did not cancel his appearance on the variety show even after the national crisis erupted, and he convened an emergency meeting in the evening of the 28th, the third day of the national crisis, drawing public criticism for his irresponsible behaviour.

On October 3rd, 8th day of the national crisis, a 4th-grade official in the Digital Government Innovation Office of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, who was restoring the computer network after the NIRS incident, was found dead on the floor of the Sejong Government Complex.

October 3rd, some local politicians in Daejeon refused to pay their respects at the funeral of Mr. Lee, a 4th-grade secretary in his 50s from the Digital Government Innovation Office, who was found dead. This has raised questions about the fundamentals of leadership. (Commented and photo by Daejeon Internet Newspaper)

There were no witnesses who saw the official fall, yet all the articles reported it as if the deceased committed suicide. (enigma 6)

No evidence to conclude that the death of the 4th-grade official who was found dead was a suicide. No one witnessed him falling from the building. And, no signs of suicide recognized by those around him.

Furthermore, the reporters' estimates of the circumstances of death differed and defied common sense, raising questions among readers.

One citizen raised a possibility that a 4th-grade secretary may not have chosen to take his own life.
"The victim appeared to have been thrown from a fourth-floor balcony by the assailant, suggesting the suspect may have placed the victim's cell phone on the 15th floor to stage the suicide."

While the aforementioned enigmas have been roughly condensed into six, there are many more questions requiring explanation and investigation.

It is an undeniable truth that the opening of the NIRS Backup Center, which should have been a top priority for the government, has been delayed or suspended for the past 18 years without justifiable cause.

A thorough investigation must be conducted to determine why this vital national institution has been so neglected for almost two decades.

The duties and responsibilities of the President in Korean Constitution are as follows:

Chapter 4: Government

Section 1: The President

Article 66: ① The President shall be the Head of State and represent the State vis-à-vis foreign nations.
② The President shall be responsible for safeguarding the independence, territorial integrity, and continuity of the State, and for upholding the Constitution.
③ The President shall faithfully fulfill the duty of achieving the peaceful unification of the homeland.
④ Executive power shall be vested in the Government headed by the President.

Article 69: Upon taking office, the President shall take the following oath:

"I solemnly swear before the people that I will faithfully execute the duties of the President by observing the Constitution, defending the State, pursuing the peaceful unification of the homeland, promoting the freedom and welfare of the people, and endeavouring to develop national culture."