Getting help from your embassy
When something serious happens abroad, you can ask your embassy or consulate for help. This is called consular assistance.
What an embassy can do
- Visit and check on you if arrested or detained
- Provide lists of lawyers and interpreters
- Contact your family at home
- Reissue a passport or issue a travel certificate
- Notify family and explain procedures in case of death or serious injury
- Raise concerns where human rights are violated
What an embassy cannot do
- Get you released
- Pay your fines or legal fees
- Interfere in the investigation or trial outcome
- Solve employment or visa problems
Knowing this distinction prevents disappointment.
Steps
- If arrested, say "please inform my country's embassy."
- If you can call yourself, phone the consular section.
- Family at home can also contact the embassy.
- Prepare the information — name as in your passport, passport number, date of birth, where you are, what happened.
What you need
- Your passport number (a copy or photo helps)
- Family contact details at home
- Your current location and situation
Where to go
- Your country's embassy or consulate, usually in Seoul
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.go.kr (list of missions in Korea)
- 132 Korea Legal Aid Corporation
- 1345 · 1577-1366 interpretation
- 112 emergencies
Questions people ask
I don't know the embassy's number. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs website lists missions in Korea. 1345 can also tell you.
My country has no embassy here. There may be a concurrently accredited mission based in another country. Check with the Ministry or 1345.
Can I contact the embassy without valid status? Consular assistance to your own nationals is separate from immigration status.
The embassy isn't helping. There are limits to what they can do. For legal matters 132, labour matters 1350, immigration matters 1345 are more direct.
Take care
Save your embassy's number in your phone today. In an emergency there is no time to look it up. Upload a copy of your passport to the cloud at the same time.
Related
arrest-rights · lawyer-right · lost-passport · detained-by-police
Source
Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.go.kr / As of 2026-08