1/ LATEST: S. Korea data centre fire catastrophe. Two weeks on, the scale is still staggering. 858TB of government work files permanently lost with no backup. A government official has died. Gov admitted they miscounted affected systems by 62. Only 27% of systems restored.
2/ The G-Drive catastrophe: 858TB of civil servants' work files completely destroyed. Cloud storage system had no backup because officials said there were "too many small files to backup in real time". Some backup disks existed but burned in the same room. biz.chosun.com/topics/topics_…
3/ Some ministries actively encouraged staff to use G-Drive as their primary storage system. Civil servants are now facing years of work simply vanished. One official said all their work files are gone and they're experiencing a complete mental breakdown. biz.chosun.com/topics/topics_…
4/ The government initially said 647 systems were down, then corrected today to 709. Their management system was also destroyed in the fire, so they'd been counting based on "staff memory" etc. Officials apologised for the confusion. newsis.com/view/NISX20251…
5/ The scope of destruction remains unclear. Officials initially said 96 systems were completely destroyed, now suggest just under 300 systems across three computer rooms were affected. Admit numbers will likely also change. newsis.com/view/NISX20251…
6/ The human cost is mounting. A government official who'd worked at the centre since it opened has died by suicide during recovery efforts. 960 people are now working on restoration. Psychological counsellors have been deployed on site.
7/ Recovery timeline keeps slipping. 193/709 systems restored. For critical Grade 1 systems, 25/40 back online. New equipment is arriving and officials claim recovery will accelerate after 15 October, but the original four-week target now looks uncertain. theguardian.com/world/2025/sep…
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1/ BREAKING: Han Hak-ja, 82-year-old leader of the Unification Church, has been indicted on charges including bribery, embezzlement and evidence tampering linked to former first lady Kim Keon Hee and the ruling People Power Party.
2/ Key charges: Han and her former secretary Jung Won-ju conspired with church official Yun Young-ho to deliver 100 million won cash to lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong in January 2022, prosecutors say.
1/ Is Chosun Ilbo becoming a MAGA mouthpiece? Today, South Korea's biggest conservative paper made its top headline an essay deifying Charlie Kirk, complete with warnings about "radical-left dictatorships", framing the US-ROK alliance through shared Christian faith.
2/ The article reads more like a sermon. It casts Kirk as a Christian martyr, warns that leftists "turn democracy into dictatorship", and folds Korea's liberal government, birth rate crisis and immigration policy into the same global "radical left" threat. chosun.com/politics/2025/…
3/ It describes his Seoul visit as his "Asian debut," praising him for urging Koreans to "fight left-wing lies" and "have many children". The US-ROK alliance is presented not just politically but as rooted in shared Judeo-Christian civilisation.
1/ The far-right anti-China hate protest I witnessed today in Seoul represents a dangerous spillover of what's been simmering in South Korea since Yoon's failed martial law. This isn't fringe anymore. It's metastasising into something broader, younger, and deeply alarming.
2/ Thousands gathered in the streets of Seoul today, singing racist chants to the effect of "chinks get the fuck out" and "Yoon is our president", waving "We are Charlie Kirk" balloons, massive "Stop the Steal" flags, US flags, "Korea for Koreans" slogans, and Christian symbols.
3/ What's significant here: this isn't just the old 태극기부대 and co anymore. Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon was literally doing his own rally today, separately. That's the OLD far-right. What we are seeing now is younger, far more vicious, organised around imported MAGA aesthetics.
1/ On Armed Forces Day today, President Lee Jae Myung reiterated his push for self-reliant defence and tech-driven military transformation, while emphasising that the US-ROK alliance is fundamental, framing self-reliance as leading within the alliance, not replacing it.
2/ Lee opened by thanking US Forces Korea and the UN Command for preserving peace on the Korean Peninsula. He stated South Korea has a "solid ROK-U.S. alliance" and "reliable nuclear deterrent based on that partnership."
3/ Lee repeated his "smart, elite, strong force" vision: AI combat robots, autonomous drones, precision missiles. Defence budget next year up 8.2% to 66.3 trillion won, focused on tech over troop numbers as future battlefields become "without people."
1/ South Korea is currently suffering a catastrophic digital infrastructure failure after a government data centre fire, highlighting a growing realisation that the country's digital security architecture is built on a castle of sand with no proper backup systems.
2/ The fire started at 8:15pm yesterday at the National Information Resources Service main centre in Daejeon during routine maintenance to move uninterruptible power supply batteries underground. One disconnected battery then caught fire. news1.kr/local/moi/5927…
3/ The blaze raged for nearly 10 hours before firefighters extinguished it at 6:30am this morning. But the damage is catastrophic: 384 lithium-ion battery packs completely destroyed, servers confirmed lost, and firefighters had to break through exterior walls.
2/ Han Hak-ja (also known as Hak Ja Han Moon) is the widow of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon and has led the global movement since his death in 2012. She faces charges including bribery, embezzlement and obstruction of justice. yna.co.kr/view/AKR202509…
3/ The luxury gifts scandal: Prosecutors allege "True Mother" Han orchestrated the delivery of an 82 million won package to former first lady Kim Keon Hee: a 62 million won Graff diamond necklace and two Chanel handbags worth around 10 million won each.