In Case of Emergencies Abroad, Dial '104'... Ministry of Foreign Affairs Proposes Number Change

Changing to an easy-to-remember number... Partial implementation planned after test call

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to change the consular call center phone number to '104' to make it easier to receive consular assistance overseas. The main idea is to replace the current consular call center number '02-3210-0404' with an easy-to-remember three-digit number.

According to the government on the 23rd, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by the Overseas Safety Planning Office, plans to change the consular call center phone number to '104'. The number '104' means "If something happens (1), look for consular assistance (04)." It is known that no other country has such a case.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been regularly informing Korean nationals residing overseas of the existing consular call center number through local diplomatic missions, but has been pursuing a plan to change it to a more memorable number.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "We are promoting a plan to change the consular call center number to 104, led by the Overseas Safety Planning Office, so that consular assistance can be received while staying abroad."

It is known that this plan has entered a trial call phase targeting 17 countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to receive the 104 number from the Ministry of Science and ICT within the year and begin partial implementation.

However, due to the resurgence trend of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), negotiations with local telecommunications companies are not easy, so it is uncertain whether it can be uniformly applied to all countries worldwide.