ICT Infrastructure Failures and the Crisis of Trust: Communication Strategies in the Climate Disaster Era

This study analyzes major ICT infrastructure failures in South Korea to examine the relationship between digital resilience, public trust, and crisis communication amid escalating climate-induced disasters. As digital networks form the backbone of modern governance, single points of failure can trigger cascading disruptions across multiple sectors. Through case studies of the 2018 KT Ahyeon fire, the 2022 Kakao data center fire, and the 2023 nationwide administrative network crash, the study highlights how ICT breakdowns led to widespread service paralysis and severe trust crises. The findings show that these failures are not merely technical issues but governance challenges that undermine institutional legitimacy. Vulnerabilities such as overreliance on centralized networks and insufficient redundancy were exposed, while communication strategies varied in their effectiveness depending on speed and transparency. Drawing on UNDRR’s ICT resilience frameworks, the study proposes integrated strategies, such as redundancy measures, cybersecurity integration, and trust-based communication, to strengthen infrastructure protection and rebuild public trust in the climate disaster era.