Updated: 2022/09
South Korea has a national emergency alerts system for notifying citizens of important information. As one may expect, such messages are issued in the Korean language due to the fact that South Korea is a Korean-speaking country.
If you do not speak Korean do not panic. Remember, if you received one of these South Korean emergency alerts it means you have a handphone (cellphone). That means you have access to a variety of apps to translate these messages right at your fingertips.
Listen to the BlogCast
Don’t want to read? Listen to the South of Seoul BlogCast which provides accessible content through the use of AI technology. We don’t have time to read each article but we do our best to make more of our content accessible. If you would like to join our Accessibility Team apply to volunteer with South of Seoul. Please note that the pronunciation of Korean words may be inaccurate due to the limitations of the AI Technology.
About Korean Emergency Alerts
You want to have access to the Korean emergency alert information. Although sometimes irritating, the Korean emergency alert system offers important information regarding natural disasters, public health, and more. For example, they send critical information regarding vaccine access, evacuations, and more.
It’s important to find a system you feel comfortable with managing the alerts and the information such alerts provide.
Translating Korean Language Alerts to Foreign Languages
You can translate the Hangul emergency alerts using the following systems:
Papago and Google Translate
These two apps are friggen gold. If you don’t have them on your phone you are missing out on life. Everything gets easier once you download them from your favorite app store (go download them right now). Simply take a screenshot of the emergency message, upload that picture into either Papago or Google Translate and drag your finger across whatever you need to have translated. You can do this will menus, signs, emergency messages, and whatever else you fancy. We use these two apps constantly.
1330 Korea Travel Hotline
If you want to talk to a person about what the meaning of an alert on your phone, you can also call a person to ask for help. South Korea has an amazing hotline for helping English speakers (and speakers of many other languages). If you can’t understand what the alert message on your handphone means after translating or you can’t figure out how to use the translation apps, you can call a real person and ask for help. You simply call the very short number on your handphone.
Get Translated Alerts
If you don’t want to deal with Hangul (Korean language) alerts at all, you can download an app that delivers the South Korean Emergency Alerts in other languages and then disable the Hangul alerts.
Emergency Ready App
The first option is the Emergency Ready App (ERA). The ERA provides computer-generated translations of emergency messages sent out across Korea.
We recommend having this on your phone simply because it provides unique insight into the broader South Korean experience. You can see alerts across the country. This can come in handy when planning your trips around the country. Search for Emergency Ready App in your preferred app store.
Embassy Translations
Embassies from different countries may provide a database of alerts translated to their nation’s language. For example, the US Embassy provides English translations of South Korean public alerts online.
Turning Off the Emergency Phone Alerts
Once you have downloaded the Emergency Ready App, you may want to turn off the alerts sent to your phone. Keep in mind, that turning off the alerts will limit your access to information regarding natural disasters and other safety and public health-related events.
South of Seoul does not encourage residents of South Korea to turn off their Emergency Alerts or Public Safety Alerts. A great deal of important information regarding public health programs is delivered through this system.
However, if you already have the Emergency Ready App, you may not need to get the alerts twice.
Turning Off iPhone Alerts
If you have an iPhone you can follow the following steps to turn off both the Emergency Alerts and the Public Safety Alerts.
- Open the Settings – Open the Notifications – Scroll to the bottom- Korean Public Alert System
Turning Off Emergency Alerts for Android
Since we do not have android phones, we will link to an article that explains how to manage alerts on Android devices.
Articles About Emergency Alerts in Korea
We also recommend reading more about the history of emergency alerts in South Korea as they pertain to international residents.
- Emergency Alerts For Foreigners Get Lost In Translation
- Foreigners unable to read emergency text alerts from S. Korean government
- Emergency Alert Text Messages to be provided in English, Mandarin
Founded in 2015, the South of Seoul team consists of volunteers on three continents working together to support English-speaking people traveling or living in South Korea. South of Seoul volunteers work with organizations and individuals across South Korea to improve equitable access to information across South Korea. Much of South of Seoul’s information focuses on Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
Blogs published under the authorship of “South of Seoul” include blogs compiled by multiple volunteers to improve access to standardized information unrelated to individualized personal experiences.
