SK Inc. takes full responsibility for data center fire that caused Kakao blackout

Tech

Published: 25 Oct. 2022, 09:11

SK Inc. takes full responsibility for data center fire that caused Kakao blackout

SK Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won answers questions from lawmakers over a recent fire that broke out at an SK C&C data center and knocked out Kakao services for over 13 hours, during an audit held at the National Assembly on Monday evening. Chey took part in a session that began at 8:30 p.m., after skipping the first two sessions that took place earlier in the day. [NEWS1]

Chairman of SK Inc. Chey Tae-won said his company takes full responsibility for the fire that broke out at one of its data centers on Oct. 15 causing a blackout in Kakao services, during a parliamentary audit held at the National Assembly on Monday evening.

However, compensation for users can only be made after measures have been taken by its clients, such as Kakao, he said.

“I feel grave responsibility about the recent blackout,” Chey said to lawmakers. “SK is doing its best to deal with the situation.”

Chey attended a session that began at 8:30 p.m. after being absent from the two sessions that took place earlier in the day, as the leader of SK affiliates. The data center was operated by SK C&C and built by SK ecoplant, and the batteries that caught fire was made by SK on.

When asked by lawmakers whether SK is willing to pre-emptively compensate users of services run by clients that have been affected by the fire, Chey answered that he “couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

“I want to [compensate users] but we can only cater to our clients’ needs after they gather the data and come up with plans,” he said. “We can’t take any measures because we don’t have the data. We can compensate clients based on our contracts.”

On Oct. 15, Kakao servers were knocked out as a result of a battery fire at an SK C&C data center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi. Messenger, banking, transportation, payment and e-commerce services were unavailable, degraded or intermittent for more than 10 hours as backup systems failed to kick in fast enough.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]