The operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger app was among three companies that issued apologies during a parliamentary session on Monday for the recent mass outage that disrupted services for millions of users worldwide.

During an audit of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Kakao founder Kim Beom-soo, SK C&C CEO Park Sung-ha and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin all apologized for the inconvenience caused by a fire at an SK C&C data center that houses Kakao's main servers.

Kakao chair Kim apologized and explained that, while he knew the importance of data centers and had made related investments, the preparation period of four to five years meant the systems were not ready. He then promised to ensure the same level of stability as that of global companies through more investments.

Regarding compensation, Kim said that in the case of paid services, the company was preparing and compensating according to the terms and conditions, while a consultative body comprising users and representative groups will contribute to a compensation plan for free services.

Park said he felt a great sense of responsibility and vowed to do the utmost from the highest SK Group-level to actively discuss compensation even before the cause of the accident is identified.

Meanwhile, Naver's founder Lee shared similar sentiments and vowed to do the utmost to minimize inconveniences by carrying out more inspections.