Disaster authorities have raised the crisis alert to the highest “serious” level following a fire at a central state data center late Friday which forced hundreds of  government online services and systems to go offline.

The interior ministry said in a statement that Minister Yun Ho-jung presided over a meeting early Saturday to assess the administrative system disruptions following the fire at the National Information Resources Service caused by a battery explosion.

Yun instructed that the alert level be raised and activated the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters after the incident left 647 online government services and systems down as of Saturday morning, including the mobile identification system and online postal service.

The minister said the government is mobilizing all available resources for swift recovery and will do its utmost to minimize public inconvenience.

The ministry noted that many administrative services remain limited and advised the public to confirm service availability by phone before visiting government offices. 

Guidelines for citizens are being provided through the Naver portal.

Some services, including the electronic family registry system, transportation complaints platform, Hometax, national health insurance, and agricultural e-services, are available through alternative sites.

The ministry added that it is circulating information through TV, radio, and emergency text alerts, and stressed that despite systems remaining temporarily out of order,  services are being handled manually or through alternate means so that citizens are not inconvenienced.