If Something Goes Wrong
Emergency Numbers
Which number to call, what to say first, and how it works when you don't speak Korean.
The three numbers
| Number | For | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 119 | Ambulance, fire, rescue | Free from any phone, including one with no SIM. This is the medical emergency number — there is no separate one. |
| 112 | Police | Crime, theft, assault, feeling unsafe. |
| 1330 | Travel helpline | Not an emergency line, but staffed around the clock with interpreters — and it can join a call in progress. For anything that is a problem but not a crisis, this is the number. |
Say where you are, first
Before anything else, give the location. Everything after that can be worked out; an address cannot be guessed. If you don't know where you are, read out what's on the nearest sign, or the name of the subway station or the shop you're standing in front of.
- Where you are — station name, shop name, whatever is written nearby.
- What happened, in the plainest words you have. "Car accident." "He is not breathing." "Fire."
- How many people are hurt.
- Stay on the line. They will tell you what to do next, and hanging up loses the location.
Every phone can dial 119 and 112 without a SIM card and without unlocking. If your phone has no service, it can still make this one call.
When you don't speak Korean
Say English — or the name of your language — at the start, and wait. The emergency services can bring an interpreter onto the call, and there is a standing arrangement with the travel helpline for exactly this. It takes a moment; don't hang up during the pause and try again, because starting over is slower than waiting.
- If speaking is impossible, some services accept a text message to the same number. Send the location first.
- If someone Korean is nearby, handing them the phone is faster than any of this. Most people will take it.
- 1330 answers in several languages and can call an emergency number with you on the line.
What happens next
An ambulance takes you to whichever emergency room can accept you, which is not always the nearest and is rarely the one you would have chosen. You cannot direct it the way a taxi is directed.
Emergency care is given first and paid for afterwards. As a visitor you will be billed at the uninsured rate, so keep the paperwork — that is what your insurer settles against.
Put these in your phone now
- 119, 112, 1330 as contacts, so you are not typing digits while shaking.
- Your embassy's number and address — the one page a lost passport sends you to.
- Your insurer's 24-hour line and policy number.
- Your accommodation's address in Korean, screenshotted. It answers a taxi driver, a police officer, and the first question on every call above.