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The "Firsts" and "Bests" of Government Innovation

The Korean Government will accredit the "Firsts" of our innovations that contributed to the public's comfort and safety, and select the "Best" cases of government innovation to spread as examples to our many institutions.

Government Innovation

The First

119 Emergency Medical Consultation Service for Overseas Koreans National Fire Agency Nov 2018

The 119 Emergency Medical Consultation Service for Overseas Koreans(119 being the emergency number in Korea) is the world’s first emergency service designed to provide citizens with consultancy and guidance from emergency medical professionals in the event of an unexpected incident abroad.

Emergency medical consultation began in 2018 for citizens residing in Asian countries. Today, citizens can receive guidance on first aid methods, local locations for medicine purchase, and medicine consumption methods, regardless of the country they are in. Services are accessible 24 hours a day, through phone calls, email, websites, and messaging services.

Content

119 Emergency Medical Consultation Services for Overseas Koreans ⓒ National Fire Agency

■ Seek Out Services for Medical Emergencies While Traveling Abroad!

If you have any concern for emergency situations that may occur abroad while planning a trip, look no further than this 119 Emergency Medical Consultation Service for Overseas Koreans(hereafter referred to as Emergency Overseas Service). In the event of an injury or sickness abroad, any citizen residing abroad can receive emergency consultation from a licensed medical emergency professional on standby 24/7, through a phone call, website, email, Kakaotalk messenger, etc. The service is available to not just travellers, but all overseas Koreans including students abroad, crewmembers on offshore fishing vessels, and even Korean diaspora.

Contact emergency services by phone (+82-44-320-0119), email (central119ems@korea.kr), the website (www.119.go.kr), or social media channels (Add the “소방청 응급의료상담 서비스” Channel on Kakaotalk)

■ The World’s First Contactless Diagnosis Service, Accessible Overseas

This emergency service began in 2018 as a means to guarantee the safety and lives of citizens who were residing in foreign countries. With a rising number of citizens flying abroad, incidents and accident numbers rose too, leading to a need for a safety system for citizens abroad. The National Fire Agency(NFA) provides overseas citizens in emergency situations with year round, 24/7 support on administering first aid and utilizing local medical facilities, establishing solutions to guarantee safety for citizens by cooperating with related agencies.

This service began for citizens residing in Asian countries, and added phone, email, and text-based counseling services. Beginning in November 2018 with Japan, the scope of the texting service was expanded to travelers in China in February 2019, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) consular call center.

Beginning in May 2019, the service was further expanded to 34 nations in Southeast Asia, with services becoming available in Europe and the Americas later in August, and expanding to the entire world starting from February 2020.

Support services have become available on Kakaotalk beginning in July 2020. Individuals using Kakaotalk simply need to add the “소방청 응급의료상담 서비스” (NFA Emergency Medical Consultation Service) Channel, and begin consultation.

The Emergency Overseas Service is drawing attention as the first and only service of its kind in the world. Confirming with 123 embassies of the world, there are no other government-led services of its kind, while private insurance companies do provide a similar paid service. The fact that any Korean citizen can receive medical consultation 24/7 from anywhere around the world not only further elevates the Korean government’s function of protecting its citizens, but also allows Korean citizens to feel proud about being Korean.

In order to overcome the limitations of a contactless consultation service, this emergency service has further built strong trust by enabling precise confirmation of patient status through photos, video, and messages, etc. and swiftly providing guidelines for patient medical treatment. Furthermore, beyond medical consultation, the service also allows individuals residing abroad to request a check in on the safety of their parents and family members in Korea, thus establishing it as an increasingly useful service to the public.

A screenshot of the emergency consultation website, accessed from abroad ⓒ 119 Safety Report Center

■ A Trustful Emergency Service, Always on Standby for Citizens Abroad

According to the NFA, usage of the service has increased by an average of 17% annually over the past four years. As of December 2024, a collective total of 18,040 consultation cases (2018~2024), with 4,901 cases in 2024 alone, were handled on the service. This is an increase of 18.5% from the 4,135 cases in 2023, and signifies that 12.4 people used the service daily.

Regarding the geographical location of consultation requests, the largest portion of 2,586(52%) came from sea, with requests from inland locations following with 2,308(47%), and 7(0.1%) airborne requests recorded. Further location analysis showed that among the consultation requests coming from the sea, email requests accounted for the most at 51%, and 98% of requesting individuals were men. Among land requests, Kakaotalk requests accounted for 85% of the total, female callers made up 59% of the total, and individuals in their twenties and thirties were the largest demographic of users at 49% of all requests.

In regards to consultation channels, social media(Kakaotalk) accounted for the largest fraction at 3,062 (62.5%) requests, followed by email(27.3%) and phone calls(9.6%). With a rising number of Koreans in their 20s and 30s residing abroad due to studies and work, the proportion of requesters utilizing the Kakaotalk messenger service is gradually rising. Men accounted for 70% of total users, while for age demographics, Koreans in their 20s (27.8%) and 30s (23.8%) made up for more than half of the total number of requesters. In particular, the largest rate of increase in usage by teens was recorded over the last year, displaying expanding service usage in younger generations.

The majority of consultation requests consisted of medical consultation and medicine consumption guidance. For medical specialties, emergency medicine accounted for 64.2% of the total, followed by dermatology(7.7%) and orthopedics(7.6%).

In addition to the service’s implementation, the NFA is strengthening its global safety network by jointly dispatching rapid response teams to international events with the MOFA, and conducting first aid training for overseas Koreans. Furthermore, the NFA plans to deploy a fire liaison officer to the Korean Embassy in Vietnam, expanding safety support abroad.

■ One Last Check at the Airport Saves You Critical Time!

In an effort to spread further word on this service, the NFA is conducting various multi-faceted promotional campaigns. Such efforts are aimed at reaching out to the remaining public who, despite the benefits of this useful service targeted at public safety, are unaware of its existence and are missing out on usage. Starting in May 2025, promotional videos of the service have been displayed at Incheon International Airport. Banners holding the slogan “Even aboard, citizens are covered with no exceptions” were installed, online promotions were conducted on social media, and a broader public promotional campaign was conducted in tune with the vacation season beginning at the end ofJuly.

Furthermore, in collaboration with LG UPlus, one of Korea’s key telecommunications companies, promotional leaflets were placed at roaming centers at Incheon, Gimpo, and Gimhae airport, while related informative images were displayed on screens. The expansion of the Emergency Overseas Service and its promotion tailored to the public has provided a basis for overseas Koreans and travelers to feel even safer in their day to day lives.

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