President Lee Jae-myung on the 4th urged special attention to improving the working conditions of public officials who, with a heavy sense of responsibility, work silently day and night to restore daily life for the public and overcome the national crisis, in connection with the death of a Ministry of the Interior and Safety official who had been tasked with restoring government systems.
Kim Yong-beom, Presidential Chief of Staff for Policy, said in a written briefing that he shared these remarks by President Lee at the meeting of the "artificial intelligence (AI) government infrastructure governance and innovation task force (TF)" he chaired that day. In response, the TF decided to work to strengthen the capabilities and improve the treatment of public officials engaged in frontline duties directly tied to public safety, taking the fire at the National Information Resources Service as a turning point, Kim said.
The meeting was held to discuss swift restoration of the national computer network and fundamental improvements to the national information management system. As a first step, the TF decided to fully mobilize public and private capabilities so that idle equipment and personnel from government ministries, private-sector experts, and private corporations can be promptly deployed for the transfer to the Daegu center of the 96 systems completely burned down in the fire.
It also set priorities for the budget needed for restoration to swiftly allocate reserve funds, and decided to ask the National Assembly for cooperation to increase related appropriations during deliberations on next year's budget. In addition, the TF will reexamine from scratch the existing management and operations framework for the national informatization system and, by leveraging private-sector capabilities and overseas cases, fundamentally redesign governance to suit the AI era.
Deputy Minister Kim said, "We will continue to make every effort to restore the national computer network as quickly as possible to alleviate public inconvenience," adding, "The TF will continue online and offline meetings even during the Chuseok holiday and will prepare and announce concrete improvement measures as soon as possible."