Catastrophic Data Loss in South Korean Government
A devastating fire at South Korea's National Information Resources Service (NIRS) data centre in Daejeon has resulted in the permanent loss of work documents belonging to nearly 191,000 civil servants. The September 26, 2025 blaze destroyed the government's central document storage system known as 'G Drive,' which had been mandatory for all government employees since 2018.
No Backup System Leads to Irreversible Loss
The G Drive cloud-based repository, which contained approximately 858 terabytes of government data, was completely destroyed with no external backups available. 'As the system was not backed up externally, all documents stored on the repository have been lost, and there is no way to bring back the lost documents,' said director-general Lim Jeong-gyu of the Public Service Bureau during an October 1 press conference.
The fire, which lasted approximately 10 hours, disrupted operations of 647 major government systems. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, G Drive was among 96 systems confirmed to have been directly destroyed by the inferno. The system had been allocated to nearly 191,000 government employees as of August 2025, representing a significant portion of South Korea's 750,000 public sector officials.
Government Operations Severely Impacted
Government branches that exclusively used G Drive to store work documents are experiencing significant disruptions to their operations. The Ministry of Personnel Management is expected to suffer the most severe data loss, having stored most of its work on G Drive since a 2016 office break-in by a civil service exam applicant.
In contrast, the Office for Government Policy Coordination is expected to bear the least impact, as it did not rely heavily on the cloud system. 'The government has managed to recover whatever we can, including files from past e-mails, printed copies and local PC drives created within the past month,' Mr. Lim added during the briefing.
Fire Origin and Investigation
The source of the fire was identified as an uninterruptible power supply battery that was disconnected for relocation to the basement. The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency has booked four officials in connection with the fire, including one NIRS official and three external workers overseeing the battery relocation when the fire occurred.
Investigators had earlier questioned 12 witnesses, including the relocation project manager and other workers on site. The incident has raised serious questions about data management protocols and disaster recovery planning within South Korea's government infrastructure.
Recovery Efforts Underway
As of October 1, only 101 of the 647 affected systems had been restored, representing just 15.6% recovery rate. Of the 38 'Grade 1' services – those deemed essential based on user impact and service importance – only 21, or 55.2%, had been restored.
While personal work files stored exclusively on G Drive are permanently lost, more sensitive official documents were mostly stored on both G Drive and the Onnara System, the government's pan-government intranet. 'All work materials of the government go through a separate reporting and approval process through the Onnara System, so official documents related to such approvals and reports are stored on both systems,' Mr. Lim explained, adding that the government expects official documents to be recovered once the Onnara System is fully restored.
The incident represents one of the largest government data losses in recent history and has prompted calls for comprehensive review of data backup protocols across South Korea's public sector. For more detailed coverage, visit The Straits Times and Data Center Dynamics.