About Safety in Korea, an informational as well as feedback (no responses are allowed to this thread)

[Daphne and Co]

Korea, like most of East Asia, is considered to be one of the safest countries in the world. It is just not that common to feel unsafe in Korea. Young children travel across town alone, foreign women often travel alone and rarely must you worry about theft. But this is no reason to let your guard down. Foreigners still occasionally have their bikes stolen, foreign women still find themselves in uncomfortable situations with Korean men and it is rare but not unheard of to be a victim of a violent act.

If you take proper steps to avoid bad situations then chances are you will. There are few guns or drugs in Korea. Not surprisingly this makes the streets of Korea extremely safe by U.S. standards. But you should remember to be careful in the touristy areas in Seoul and Busan.

As a general rule of thumb, you should never leave your things unattended, you should always try to travel with others, and don’t be belligerent late at night in crowded areas. These three rules can keep you extremely safe in Korea. Draw on what you have learned from home and apply those skills in Korea.

You should be very careful while driving, cycling or crossing the road. In 2007, there was an average of 16.9 deaths every day on the roads. Most traffic laws seem optional. Cars and taxis blow through red lights and abruptly change lanes; motorcycles make up their own rules on the roads and sidewalks; and pedestrians are left to grow eyes in the backs and sides of their heads. It is absolutely essential to pay close attention when driving or crossing the street because Korean traffic is unpredictable.


please post any safety tips or issues as a coutesy to our incoming members..

also please see the emergency numbers thread for your post's emergency contact info..




Stay Safe!
Samantha Kimble
Some of you may find this out of control on my part but I refuse to leave my arpatment building without my pepper spray and/or pocket knife. You can fill safe in ur area and sware up and down that nothing will ever happen but you have to keep in mind things do happen its just how people are. In one month alone there were about 20 sexual assaults just on Casey/Hovey area. In one week there were two attacks where two female spouses where attacked by nigerians. It does happen, its not something that people like to talk about and the army does try and hide the issues due to the fact they don't want to scare other people. Stay protected, stay in groups, and NEVER travel alone.

Angela Pedraza Samantha- I don't think your safety precautions are out of control, I think its important to be safe ANYWHERE! I grew up in Korea (Camp Humphreys) and I have never had a need to fear anything really and honestly didnt really pay attention to anything until I was 17 when one morning I woke up to a hand over my mouth and a knife to my throat as a man attempted to rape me....I was stabbed in the stomach and I was home alone and my neighbors were all gone and no one could hear me scream. It was fight or get raped and probably killed.It took Korean police almost two months to catch him and he turned out to be a serial rapist who had stalked me for some time and knew exactly when I would be alone. NEVER in a million years would I have thought that would happen to me especially in Korea, I was Naive.Its been almost 10 years and as much as I wish I could forget that day, I can't.....but I walked away more aware of my surroundings.Be smart, make sure doors/windows are locked, learn/know how to defend yourself.....there is no such thing as a completely 'safe' place. I dont want to scare anyone from my experience but it is something all of you need to be aware of since it can happen anywhere and to anyone. I still feel safe in Korea much more so then I do in the states because guns are not an issue but again better safe then sorry!

Samantha Kimble
Daphne was been wanting this post to be up for sometime now and I've just about refused to put it up cuz its an issue I personally don't like to talk about at times and it tends to really make me cry when I think about it. Human Trafficing does happen here ladies and I've seen it first hand. There are alot of women who walk around TDC due to them living there and I can say I was one that did it too. In the middle of the day I ran to the store while my husband was in the field and on my way back I had past up three nigerians and didn't think much of it cuz they were just standing there talking. One had walked away and the other two started to follow me. In my mind set I was right down the road from my apartment that I used to live in so I walked super fast almost in a run to try and get there and lock the gate. One of the men caught up with me and snatched me up and took me to an apartment building that was down the road from mine. There was a soldier that lived in the building and had come up the stairs that we were standing on and if he hadn't come up I wouldn't have been able to talk my way outa leaving. I told the men that I would meet them at a certain place at a certain time and they really had no choice to let me go or I would have called for the guy who had walked past us. I was with them for a total of two hours and the two guys were making plans to send me to China to become a juicy. Once I got home I made the phone calls that needed to be made and my husband was at our aparment in less then an hour luckily his field time was on base. I spent a week at the KMP station and they were able to get all three men, come to find out a third one was in the apartment waiting for me. After the men were taken into custody they were sortly released and I was being stocked and followed everywhere I went one actaully tryed to snatch me up infront of my apartment a second time but i was able to run for the gate and lock it before he got to close. The following weekend after this all happened myself and a friend were in Tok looking for a new apartment and the next day after we had looked she stocked by four nigerians in a car the same car that had been sitting out by my road watching me. They had watched us the day we were looking at apartments and knew exacally where she lived. These men were not arrested and are still out there.

If you ladies are ever in a situation like this please IK you'll want to run to ur house but don't. Find a populated area and go to it and make ur way to the MP station or the KMP station. have ur phone on you with the emergency numbers in it. Don't give them the advantage of knowing where you live if they don't already now it. The KMP's have an english speaking detective that works there and he is very friendly. The only thing that really sucks when it come to reporting a situation like this is when they are trying to get all the facts from both you and the criminal they have you both in the same room and will stare at you the whole time they are being interigated.




Creator's Response

This is a response to some of the feedback received from our two members speaking out regarding what they have gone through..

first off I commend both these women for coming out and bringing forth these safety concerns. this was hard for both of them to make this fresh in their minds once again.

this is a thread for safety concerns, not a comparison for members. There has been previous feedback that has been deleted due to the fact that it was not posted with the best interest of our members in mind, but with an intent of comparison.

I will take from the deleted post the following facts as if anything they can atleast contribute to the best interest of our members:

use common sense and check in with your spouse or friend every few hours if you are traveling alone. Also many cell phones have distress signals that will alert your designated person or people. Check the setting on your phone to make sure you set up this feature.

I take the issue of safety very seriously, and I will not allow postings with suggestive activites that can be pontentially hazardous or dangerous for members. we are all adults here.. lets post with the better interest of our other members and their families in mind..