One thing not mentioned in the article is that apparently someone manually switched the sprinkler off shortly after the automatic system detected sign of fire.

One thing not mentioned in the article is that apparently someone manually switched the sprinkler off shortly after the automatic system detected sign of fire. Of course it's hard to know if a functioning sprinkler system would have prevented the disaster, but it's likely that it would have reduced the damage. It's apparently a thorny issue because residents lost a lot of money (I heard some people can't even get back to their homes because we don't know if the building is structurally safe after the fire), and if it turns out the manual intervention fanned the fire, it affects who is legally liable. Considering Korea's safety culture, I wouldn't be surprised if some low-level maintenance guy pressed the shut-down button without thinking, because otherwise he would get yelled for making the parking lot wet.