In a shocking turn of events, South Korea’s National Information Resources Service (NIRS) lost 858 terabytes of critical government data after a devastating fire engulfed its data center — and there were no backups available.
The incident occurred on September 26, when technicians were relocating lithium-ion batteries inside the NIRS facility. Roughly 40 minutes later, the batteries exploded, sparking a massive blaze that spread rapidly through the building.
The fire burned for hours before being brought under control. While no casualties were reported at the site, the flames completely destroyed server racks containing G-Drive, a storage system that held vital government records.
Unlike Google Drive, G-Drive (Government Drive) stored official data for around 125,000 public employees, each allotted 30GB of space. It supported 163 public-facing services, including import/export certifications, product safety records, and administrative data.
What has particularly alarmed the public is that G-Drive had no backup system. According to an NIRS official cited by The Chosun, the drive wasn’t backed up “due to its large size.” In total, 858TB of data vanished.
Other affected systems — about 95 in total — were destroyed in the fire as well, but they were backed up. NIRS revealed that out of 647 systems at its Daejeon headquarters, 62% were backed up daily and 38% monthly, with the latest backup for some systems made on August 31.
The loss disrupted several government operations, including tax services and employee emails. Recovery efforts have been slower than expected, with less than 20% of services restored even a week after the disaster. Some systems may remain offline for up to a month.
Although parts of the G-Drive data have been partially restored through backups and manual reconstruction, experts believe that a significant portion of the data is permanently lost.
Tragically, the aftermath took a human toll. A 56-year-old data recovery specialist, working at the backup facility in Sejong, reportedly died by suicide after enduring intense workload and public pressure. His phone logs indicated continuous work during recovery efforts. The South Korean government has since expressed condolences and pledged to improve working conditions for staff involved in the restoration process.