Emergency numbers
| Service | Number |
|---|---|
| Police | 112 |
| Fire & ambulance | 119 |
| Tourist hotline (multilingual assistance) | 1330 |
The 1330 tourist hotline specifically offers assistance in multiple languages and can help with everything from translation help in an awkward situation to general travel questions — worth saving before you land.
What Seoul is genuinely good on
- Low violent crime rates by major-city standards, including late at night.
- Well-lit, well-monitored public spaces and transit.
- A culture where lost items (phones, wallets) are frequently turned in rather than kept — don't rely on this, but it's a genuine pattern.
What's still worth normal caution around
- Petty theft in very crowded tourist areas and nightlife districts, same as any major city.
- Standard nightlife-district common sense — drink awareness, not accepting drinks from strangers, staying with your group.
- Traffic — Seoul drivers and cyclists (including e-bike and scooter riders) don't always yield the way pedestrians from other countries might expect; look both ways even on marked crossings.
Natural and geopolitical context
Seoul's proximity to North Korea is a common worry for first-time visitors, but daily life in the city is not shaped by this tension in any way a visitor would notice — see our DMZ day trip guide if you specifically want to engage with this part of Korea's situation directly, in a controlled, touristic context.
Tip: Register with your home country's travel advisory or embassy notification system for your trip dates — a low-effort step that matters most in the rare event of a genuine emergency or natural event.