Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Emergency mobile alerts to contain English keywords
An example of the new format of the government's emergency mobile alerts / Courtesy of Ministry of the Interior and Safety
By Nam Hyun-woo
The government's emergency mobile alerts will now feature English keywords to help foreign residents quickly comprehend the content of the alarms.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Meteorological Administration, the government's mobile disaster alerts will start including brief information in English regarding the type and severity of the alert.
In the event of an earthquake, the alert message will display the keyword “Earthquake” and its magnitude in English. Similarly, the message will notify recipients of various disaster situations such as heavy rain, air raid, nuclear warning and forest fires.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been operating the Emergency Ready App, which provides disaster alerts in English and Chinese for foreign residents who are not proficient at Korean. Through the latest measure, the ministry said it will help foreign nationals to understand disaster messages more quickly.
“The measure is aimed at helping foreigners quickly understand disaster situations and evacuate safely,” Safety Minister Lee Sang-min said. “The government will continue to work with relevant agencies to improve disaster safety information services for foreigners visiting or residing in the country.”
Depending on the severity of the situation, the government sends three types of mobile alert messages — urgent disaster alert, emergency disaster alert and safety guidance alert.
Urgent disaster alerts are intended to notify of national crises such as an attack from North Korea, while emergency disaster alerts are sent to inform recipients of heavy rain and other natural or social disasters. Both types of alerts are accompanied by alert tones.