20 emergency hotlines to be merged into 3

By Lee Kyung-min

The government plans to merge some 20 emergency hotlines into three ― 112, 119, 110 ― in order to enhance response times after receiving calls.

According to the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, Friday, 112 will deal with crime reports and 119 will be used for general emergencies. Reports about issues that are not time-sensitive will be made to 110.

The measure follows criticism that the large death toll from the sinking of the Sewol ferry in April was partly due to the inept initial responses of government agencies.

People called 119 to report the Sewol incident, but the staff there referred the calls to maritime emergency hotline 122, saying they do not handle such reports.

Experts said such delayed response resulted in deaths that could have been prevented.

The 122 hotline will be shut down, the ministry said.

The other non-emergency numbers included 118 for reporting crimes in cyberspace, 117 for reporting bullying at schools, 113 for reporting suspected North Korean spies, and 1388 for juveniles in need of counseling.

The government plans to handle all those kinds of calls with the 110 hotline.

The ministry was formed on Nov. 19, after The Korea Coast Guard was disbanded in taking responsibility for its poor rescue efforts during the Sewol incident.