LOOPHOLES IN VACCINE PASS SYSTEM

[Anchor Lead]

The vaccine pass system failed from the first day it went into effect on December 13. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency issued an apology, saying the system was overloaded temporarily with too many people accessing it. It also decided not to fine those who violated vaccine pass rules on December 13.

[Pkg]

Apps on Naver, Kakao and COOV were all not working sufficiently until late at night on December 13th. The malfunction made it difficult for restaurant and cafe employees to serve customers according to standing COVID-19 rules.

[Soundbite] Hong Sun-young(Fried Chicken Restaurant Owner) : "Customers cannot access the server right away so they have to wait for a long time. It makes it hard for us provide quality service."

The crash occurred, as a huge number of people tried to access the servers simultaneously, exceeding the government’s predictions. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency apologized for causing such inconveniences. It further decided not to apply the COVID vaccine pass rules for the day of December 13. It also will not penalize those who were found to have violated vaccine pass rules on Monday. The agency had previously said that the vaccine pass system had normalized by the afternoon. But it was later made apparent that officials had not been able to identify the cause of the system malfunction. Regarding the system overload, KT DS Cloud Center, which hosts COOV servers, said that no problems were found with its cloud system and operation. The company said it operated the exact number of servers as requested by the KDCA and the crash occurred, as too many people were trying to use the system simultaneously. The KDCA pledged to take every necessary and possible measures to prevent a similar situation from recurring on December 14, the second day after the vaccine pass rules went into effect.