Users blocked from logging into KakaoTalk for an hour due to 'network error'

The desktop version of KakaoTalk, Korea's primary messaging app, was inaccessible for more than an hour for some users on Thursday morning. Operator Kakao attributed the interruption to a “network error.”

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The desktop version of KakaoTalk, Korea's primary messaging app, was inaccessible for more than an hour for some users on Thursday morning. Operator Kakao attributed the interruption to a “network error.”

Starting at 10:54 a.m., some users reported having difficulties logging into KakaoTalk as well as accessing web portal Daum’s email client, which is also operated by Kakao. Those who were already logged into the messenger at that time could continue to use it as normal, but those attempting to sign in received error notifications.

The company, reached for comment during the service disruption, said it was “urgently looking into the situation and trying to fix the problem as quickly as possible.”

KakaoTalk and Daum resumed normal operations across the board at 12:20 p.m., a Kakao spokesperson said.

This is the fourth time this year that KakaoTalk’s platform has experienced widespread disruption. The app's services went down for six minutes on both May 13 and May 20 and for 54 minutes on May 21.

The Ministry of Science and ICT launched an on-site inspection of Kakao’s data centers in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, on May 21 to investigate the cause of the repeated service disruptions. The ministry said it would alert Kakao of any issues its software and network experts identified on the premises to prevent further disruptions.

KakaoTalk is used by a large majority of the Korean population for a broad range of services including messaging, financial transactions, taxi-hailing and maps.

A crash of Kakao's servers caused by a fire at the company's Pangyo data centers led to an outage of the app in October 2022, creating chaos in the country.

Monthly active users of KakaoTalk has steadily decreased from May 2023, dropping to fewer than 45 million this April for the first time since May 2022. The app still maintained its lead in market share among domestically used social networks as of April, with 39.62 percent, but dropped 2.6 percentage points on year.

Update, July 1: Added details about the service interruption and a statement from Kakao regarding its cause.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]