Go, but pay attention.
Numbeo's Safety Index puts Seoul at 75/100 for crime — that makes it read sketchier than South Korea's national picture overall (78/100 vs 79/100).
City page · part of South Korea
The one number a country page can't give you
What people who actually live in Seoul report
Numbeo aggregates thousands of resident-submitted perception surveys into a per-city Crime Index (higher = worse) and its inverse, a Safety Index — the only real city-granularity crime signal feeding this page, alongside South Korea's national advisory, political, health, and police-trust data.
Crime Index
25.4
Safety Index
74.6
Sub-scores
Same real inputs as South Korea's national page, with crime swapped for Seoul's own Numbeo number above.
Local know-how
Staying safe in Seoul, specifically
- • Seoul is a remarkably safe city despite its size, comparable in safety to Hong Kong or Tokyo.
- • Smoking is allowed only in designated areas. Walking while smoking can incur a fine.
- • If you happen to be a non-Korean man walking hand-in-hand with a Korean woman, drunk older Korean men might give you a tongue lashing or occasionally worse.
- • If you do end up in a fight and the attacker gets hurt, the fact that you didn't start the fight may not give you legal protection.
- • Do not try to use drones to take pictures in Seoul, because most of the city (especially north of Han river) is a restricted flight area.
- • Unfortunately, crimes by American soldiers against Koreans do happen, and when they do they often receive a huge amount of national attention.
Legal status (national law)
Legal + UN decl. sign.
Source: Wikipedia — LGBTQ rights by country →Pack this, know this
The little things that trip people up
Plug & voltage
C / F · 220V
Driving side
right
Emergency
police: 112 / ambulance: 119 / fire: 119
Tipping
Tipping is not expected anywhere in South Korea and is not practiced by Koreans. It could be considered an insult between Koreans as it is regarded as giving someone charity, although people generally know of American tipping culture and would be understanding of a foreigner doing this.
SIM / Data
4G LTE is available in Korea. While 5G is also becoming available, providers have only so far made it available to select postpaid plans or inbound roaming agreements; prepaid users purchasing a local SIM in South Korea will not have access to 5G (as of August 2021).
Cash vs. Card
The currency of South Korea is the South Korean won, denoted by ₩ (ISO code: KRW) and written 원 (won) in the Korean language.
How this compares to South Korea
Numbeo's Safety Index puts Seoul at 75/100 for crime — that makes it read sketchier than South Korea's national picture overall (78/100 vs 79/100).
See the full South Korea page and all receipts →