S.KOREAN GOV'T LAUNCHES EMERGENCY INSPECTION ON KAKAO OVER MESSENGER SERVICE DISRUPTIONS

SEOUL, Sept 24 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- The South Korean government has launched an on-site emergency inspection of Kakao Corp, the operator of South Korea's dominant mobile messenger, to assess its network operations after repeated service outages this year, officials said on Tuesday, according to Yonhap news agency.

The Ministry of Science and ICT sent a team of software and network experts to Kakao's headquarters in Pangyo, south of Seoul, earlier this morning, according to the officials familiar with the matter.

The inspection aims to identify the cause of last week's service disruption and evaluate the company's response measures.

This marks the third on-site inspection that the ministry has conducted on Kakao this year.

In May, the ministry inspected the company twice after KakaoTalk experienced three service outages between May 13 and May 21. Following those disruptions, Kakao was ordered to improve the stability of its operations system.

Earlier this month, Kakao said it has implemented preventative measures and submitted further plans to advance its operations system.

However, the recent service disruption, which occurred a week after those rectifications were submitted, has raised concerns.

Under current laws, Kakao could face a fine of up to 3 per cent of its revenue if it is found to have failed to comply with the rectification order.

"Kakao's service disruption a week after it submitted rectification measures means the company has possibly made insufficient efforts to solve the problem," Rep Kim Jang-kyom of the ruling People Power Party said.

-- BERNAMA-YONHAP