Seoul, Oct 12 (IANS) More than 36 per cent of the South Korean government’s online administrative services affected by a fire at a state data centre last month have been restored, officials said Sunday.

As of 9 p.m., 260 out of 709 services hit by the fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in the central city of Daejeon had been brought back online, marking a restoration rate of 36.7 per cent, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said the newly restored services include the Cultural Ministry’s administrative support system for Korean culture centres and websites related to the Public Procurement Service.

Currently, 30 out of 40 “Grade 1” services, which are considered the most essential based on their impact and number of users in a four-tier system, have been restored, representing a recovery rate of 75 per cent. The restoration rate for “Grade 2” services came to 51.5 per cent.

The fire at the NIRS began when a lithium-ion battery exploded in a server room on September 26 and was completely extinguished the following day. Police are investigating the exact cause of the fire.

On October 10, President Lee Jae Myung visited a state data centre damaged by a major fire last month to inspect recovery efforts, the presidential office said.

Lee’s visit to the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in the central city of Daejeon came as the government is ramping up efforts to restore online services, as the fire destroyed major data storage systems.

Lee had originally taken the day off following the extended Chuseok holiday, which ended on Thursday, but decided to visit the state data centre.

Observers say Lee’s decision to visit the data centre on his day off was apparently aimed at mitigating a controversy over his recent appearance on a TV cooking show amid a nationwide outage of online government services caused by the fire.

The ruling Democratic Party has defended Lee’s appearance as “well-suited to promote K-foods”, while the main opposition People Power Party has denounced it as inappropriate.

The government has also faced criticism over its response to the incident when it revised the number of malfunctioning systems from 647 to 709 only two weeks after the fire broke out.

“The visit was arranged to encourage public officials who have been working tirelessly even during the holiday,” a presidential official told Yonhap News Agency. “The visit was scheduled in advance and is not related to Lee’s appearance on the show.”

–IANS

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