The ruling and opposition parties voiced their concerns over the fire at KT Corp. as it broke off communication last weekend.
Rep. Hong Young-pyo, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said on Nov. 26, "The most urgent thing is quick recovery. We must thoroughly analyze why such a backward accident occurred in Korea, which is an IT powerhouse."
He stressed that the government should recheck the management system of major telecommunications facilities nationwide and overhaul the fire management system for underground networks.
Yoon Young-seok, a spokesman for the Liberty Korea Party, explained on Nov. 25 that the KT fire reminded us of the danger of a communication disaster in Korea.
Yoon said, "The fire confirmed that the network failure could cause not only inconveniences for citizens and merchants, but also lead to security and medical vacuum. KT should minimize citizens' inconveniences by recovering telecommunication network as soon as possible, while related departments should focus on measures to prevent recurrence."
Meanwhile, Minister of Science and Communication Yoo Young-min urgently convened a meeting of CEOs of three companies on Nov. 26 to discuss follow-up measures for communication problems caused by the KT fire.
"With this accident, we need to write detailed scenarios about the possibility of communication problems. The frequency band has a strong public material in which the service provider borrows the national asset and does the business with it. From the communication public nature side, the government will check it thoroughly," Yoo said.
