The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) expected a smooth operation of the nation's COVID-19 pass system after it took emergency steps to mitigate network errors in a vaccination authentication app on Monday.

The state agency said on Tuesday that new servers were added and service was optimized overnight for the COOV app to allow digital proof of vaccination to be issued smoothly.

The KDCA said errors occurred due to issuance overload and an insufficient preparation of the network. 

Senior health ministry official Son Young-rae appeared on a radio program earlier on Tuesday, apologizing for failing to prevent the inconvenience. 

However, disruptions in the system were still reported on Tuesday around the peak hours of lunchtime. The government plans to not issue penalties on cases where vaccination records could not be checked due to a system failure for the time being.  

Following a weeklong grace period, the government was to start imposing fines on violators of the entry system at multipurpose facilities, including restaurants and coffee shops, on Monday. Enforcement was deferred by the KDCA on Monday night.