Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon enters a building in Sogong-dong, Jung District, central Seoul, to inspect the site of a fire, March 16, 2026. Yonhap
As international tourism figures climb to prepandemic heights, a central district in Seoul is moving to close a critical gap in emergency services: how to care for foreigners when disaster strikes.
On Monday, Jung District announced the creation of the nation’s first comprehensive "Foreigner Disaster Response Manual." The initiative marks a significant shift in local governance, moving beyond simple notifications to a specialized, multistage protocol designed to navigate the linguistic and bureaucratic hurdles that often leave non-Koreans vulnerable during crises.
The new manual divides disaster response into three pillars: initial intervention, logistical support and financial compensation. While previous national guidelines focused largely on reporting basic casualties, Jung District’s protocol mandates the immediate tracking of passport details, visa statuses and flight schedules to be shared with embassies.
Communication serves as the backbone of the plan. In a city where emergency alerts often flash across phone screens exclusively in Korean, the district will now mandate English-language pairings for all disaster texts. Furthermore, the plan includes the deployment of dedicated public officials to assist grieving families and the provision of professional translation services at temporary shelters.
The catalyst for this reform was a hotel fire in the Sogong-dong neighborhood this past March. The incident resulted in four foreign casualties and left 106 international guests displaced. The ensuing confusion highlighted the inadequacy of existing systems in handling large groups of non-Korean speakers. Jung District officials say the new manual was built directly from the feedback of frontline workers who struggled to coordinate body repatriations and insurance claims during that fire.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, nearly 4.8 million foreign tourists visited Korea in the first quarter of this year — a 23 percent increase from the same period of 2025. With Jung District housing many of Seoul’s major landmarks and hotels, it has become a testing ground for urban safety.
Under the new compensation guidelines, the district will not only facilitate medical payments via the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters but will also leverage local "Life Safety Insurance" for registered foreign residents. By codifying everything from funeral logistics to civil insurance, Seoul’s central hub is betting that better preparation will preserve its reputation as a safe destination for the world.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
Source: Korea Times News
