Safety Tips in Seoul

Foreigners have increasingly become victims of flash mob attacks by gangs of young adult Korean males. While these attacks can happen and do happen in various parts of Seoul, they're most common in areas with active nightlife such as Hongdae, Cheonho, and Gangnam, as well as in business districts where foreign victims are easier for Korean gangs to find. The criminals will often use broken bottles and other improvised weapons to maximize the amount of injury to the victims. If you report the crime to the police, as a foreigner you risk being arrested and fined for being involved in violence.

Seoul is a pretty dirty city.

There are very few garbage cans along sidewalks, so people just litter.
You will see piles of garbage in the street 3 or 4 or 5 feet high, especially after holidays.

This place is heaven if you are a rat.
They mostly come out at night, but are around in the daytime, too.

Be prepared: you will see rat pancakes quite often, flattened by cars in the street.
Or on the sidewalk, as cars drive there too.

1330 Korea Travel Phone
When you need English assistance or travel information, just dial 1330, and a bilingual operator will offer you detailed tourism information. For assistance in English or travel information, just dial 1330 and a bilingual operator will attend to your requirements. To find out more details about specific areas, dial the area code before 1330.

Seoul Help Center for foreigners www.shcseoul.go.kr
Korean yellowpages for foreigners www.yellowpagews.co.kr
KNTO website for overseas visitors www.tour2korea.com
Lost & found www.lost114.com
Korean Information Service www.kois.go.kr

KNTO Tourist Information Centre
Visitors can drop by the Korea Tourism Organization office in Seoul to obtain information as well as purchase tour packages and tickets.

10 Da-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul

Subway line 1 Jonggak stn exit 5

One of the first things every new person to Korea notices is that there are roughly 10 million cars in and around the general Seoul area.
Many of the cars are taxis, and they need drivers to drive them.

Most of them are crazy.

Or at least drive like it; traffic rules in Seoul are lax and not really enforced, giving them free reign.

Drivers will run red lights, blast through crowded crosswalks, drive in oncoming lanes, and try to rip you off if they think you're either drunk or just don't know where you're going. And that's in the daytime, when they're sober...

The cause of many accidents, and the bane of motorcyclists and urban bike riders.

Although entertaining if they hit another taxi, as the drivers will physically fight about who's fault the accident was.

Be sure to wear your seatbelt.

4 more images

When you plan to visit Seoul during summertime (June to August), be prepared for warm and humid weather, plus some rainy days and gloomy sky. This is not a good season to visit Seoul or South Korea in my opinion, but I had to be here for a scheduled meeting during July 2002. The best time to visit Seoul is during autumn (September to November) when the weather is clear, cool and dry (see photos).

2 more images

If you are looking to visit a peaceful city, keep looking, and go elsewhere.

With roughly 20 million people in and around Seoul, there is constant noise and bustle around the clock. Everything from traffic, roadwork, drunk asses in the street at 4am, to the constant sound of construction.
The only time there isn't noise in the city is during Chuseok, when almost everyone heads to their family graves in the country. Then the city is so quiet it's eerie...

A temporary mobile phone is a handy item for tourist.
032- 743 4011 or 032- 743 4042 (SK)
032- 743 4018 or 032- 743 4078 (KTF)
032- 743 4001 or 032- 743 4019 (LG)
for airport rental service (not necessary to dial ‘032’ when at the airport)

If you go to any of the name hotels, especially those in the Kangnam, Yoksam areas you will pay 2-3 times what you should. Worst among these is the Renaisance Hotel, part of the Mariott chain. We expect some amenities when we pay 200-300 for a room, right? The Seoul Renaisance offers the usual toothbrush, $5.00, a bottle of water $5.00, a candy bar $5.00, a (very) small can of nuts $11.50 and so on through the rest of what a hotel of this caliber should provide for no charge. Then to make matters worse, they have negotiated (probably through bribes, since Korea runs on bribery, graft and corruption) with the officials to put a VAT of 10% on the already outrageous prices. We walked across the street, bought the water for 60 cents, the candy bar (snickers) for .50, the coke, wife drinks pepsi for .60. unfortunately, I could not find the replacement can of nuts so had to fork over $12.10 for the normally 3 buck can of nuts. Be warned, no where else in Korea is there a VAT. At no other hotel in Korea have I experienced such outright theft. Do not even consider the breakfast at $24.50. It is worth 5 at the most. Instead, walk down the street two blocks and there is a sandwich shop specializing in garden sandwiches. Yes, the rooms were clean, neat and orderly, but hardly worth 1/3 the price. Instead you should cross the Hanam bridge or the Banpo bridge where you can find respectable hotels for $30-50 a night that provide free juices, free water, clean beds and don't try to rip you off.