🚗 Car Accident in Korea

Korean law (Road Traffic Act, Article 54) requires drivers involved in an accident to stop immediately, help anyone injured, and exchange contact details. Secondary collisions are a real danger, especially on expressways, so make the scene safe before anything else.

1. Turn on your hazard lights and stop. If both cars can still drive, take a few quick photos of the vehicles' positions, then move them to the shoulder or a safe spot so you do not cause a second crash.

2. Check for injuries. If anyone is hurt, call 119 (fire and ambulance — free, 24/7). If you cannot speak Korean, say "English, please" and stay on the line; an interpreter is brought into the call.

3. Call the police at 112 whenever someone is injured, the other driver flees, you suspect drunk driving, or there is any dispute. Police interpretation is available, though service hours for some languages may vary.

4. Exchange information: name, phone number, plate number, and insurance company. Photograph the other car's plate even before talking.

5. On a highway, get everyone behind the guardrail — never stand between or behind the stopped cars.

A police report is legally required when someone is hurt or killed. For a pure property-damage fender-bender where you have exchanged details and cleared the road, the law does not force you to call 112 — but if the other driver is uncooperative, uninsured, or you are unsure, call the police anyway. Never simply drive away: leaving the scene without exchanging information can be treated as a hit-and-run offense.

Every Korean auto insurer runs a 24-hour accident dispatch service (사고출동). One call brings an adjuster or dispatch agent to the scene who documents the accident, arranges towing, and afterwards negotiates directly with the other driver's insurer. If you own a car in Korea, save your insurer's accident hotline in your phone now — the number is on your policy and your windshield sticker.

Driving a rental car — for example on Jeju — call the rental company's hotline first, not an insurer. The number is usually printed on the key tag, the rental agreement, or a sticker inside the car. The company coordinates the insurance response, sends roadside assistance, and can arrange a replacement vehicle; report even minor scratches immediately, because unreported damage discovered at return often leads to disputes.

Rental prices in Korea include the compulsory liability insurance, but damage to the rental car itself is covered only if you purchased the collision damage waiver (자차, often sold in tiers). Partial waivers carry a deductible (면책금) and daily compensation for the days the car is out of service (휴차료) may be charged, so check your contract. If the call center has no English speaker, call 1330 and ask for three-way interpretation.

Fault in Korea is decided later from evidence, so document everything before the cars move (or immediately after moving them if traffic is dangerous). Your phone camera and dashcams do most of the work.

1. Take wide shots from all four directions showing both cars, lane markings, and traffic lights or signs.

2. Take close-ups of every damaged area on both vehicles, plus skid marks, scattered debris, and the other car's license plate.

3. Photograph the road context: intersection layout, signals, obstructions, weather and road surface.

The vast majority of cars in Korea — including most rentals — carry a dashcam, called a 블랙박스 (black box). Secure your own footage right away, since many units overwrite old recordings within hours or days; for a rental, ask the company to preserve and extract the file. Politely ask the other driver and owners of nearby parked cars for their footage too, and note witnesses' phone numbers. Police can also request CCTV from intersections and nearby buildings.

In Korea, fault is expressed as a percentage split (과실비율, e.g. 70:30) and is negotiated between the two insurers using standardized criteria published by the General Insurance Association of Korea. You can look up typical scenarios on the official fault-ratio portal (accident.knia.or.kr), and disputed cases go to a dedicated deliberation committee. In short: evidence and standards decide fault — not whoever argues loudest at the scene.

Never settle in cash at the scene and never sign anything you do not fully understand. Injuries and hidden vehicle damage often surface days later, and an on-the-spot cash deal is very hard to unwind; the correct move is always to let the insurers handle it.

A cultural note: in Korea, saying "sorry" repeatedly can be taken as admitting fault in later negotiations. Be polite, check whether the other person is hurt, but stick to facts and let the adjusters and dashcam footage speak. Even if the other driver insists you were at fault, you are not obliged to agree to any percentage at the scene.

If you are injured by a hit-and-run driver who is never identified, or by a vehicle with no compulsory insurance, Korea has a state safety net: the Guarantee of Automobile Accident Compensation program (자동차손해배상 보장사업, commonly called 정부보장사업), run by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport under Article 30 of the Guarantee of Automobile Accident Compensation Act. Since 2022 it also covers injuries from objects that fall from unidentified vehicles.

It pays for bodily injury within the compulsory-insurance limits — currently up to 150 million won for death or permanent disability and up to 30 million won for injury — and the government later recovers the money from the at-fault driver if found. It does not pay for vehicle damage.

1. Report the accident to the police (112) immediately — a police accident report is mandatory for this claim.

2. Get treated and keep every document: medical certificate (진단서), treatment receipts, and the police-issued accident confirmation.

3. File the claim with the Traffic Accident Compensation Supervisory Service (자동차손해배상진흥원, TACSS), which has handled all claims under this program since January 2023 — call 1544-0049 (press 1) or apply through its website (tacss.or.kr). Claims are no longer filed through individual insurance companies.

4. Do not wait for the driver to be caught — the claim deadline is 3 years from the accident.

See a doctor on the day of the accident even if you feel fine, and get a medical certificate (진단서) stating your diagnosis and expected treatment period. Whiplash and soft-tissue injuries often appear a day or two later, and a late first visit makes it much harder to link the injury to the accident.

Injury claims in Korea usually end in a 합의 — a lump-sum settlement with the at-fault driver's insurer covering treatment, lost income, and compensation. There is no need to rush: you may continue treatment first, and once you sign, the settlement is generally final. If the insurer's first offer feels premature, it is normal to decline and keep treating.

There is also a criminal dimension. Under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents, an insured driver who injures someone through ordinary negligence is generally not prosecuted if covered by comprehensive insurance or after a settlement — but this protection does not apply to serious violations such as drunk driving, running a red light, or hit-and-run.

Foreigner-specific tips: your visa status does not prevent you from receiving treatment or claiming against the driver's insurer, and hospitals will accept a passport or Alien Registration Card as ID. If you are a short-term visitor leaving Korea soon, tell the insurer early and collect all records (medical certificate, receipts, police accident confirmation) before departure, since handling a claim from abroad is slower.